Authors across numerous publishers, including Penguin Random House, recently transformed Twitter into a forum for experimental storytelling during #TwitterFiction Festival 2014. The festival, which took place March 12 through 16, was a partnership among the Association of American Publishers, Penguin Random House, and Twitter. It resulted in a five-day round-the-clock global literary event that reached 50 million people on Twitter.
Publishing has traditionally been thought of as an industry that instinctively knows the reader and draws primarily on experience and general market trends to design publishing and marketing plans. Even as that instinctive factor remains a critical element of success, Random House has built a Consumer Insights team that draws on a number of data sources to help marketers and publishers better understand consumers. One of the most useful resources is the Random House reader panel, which allows direct access to and feedback from readers.