The benefit of Qlik data dashboards for publishers

Written content is big money. It was previously said that visual and interactive mediums would mean the death of the written word, but that is far from reality. In fact, the global publishing industry is estimated to be $92.68-billion, up 5.4% from 2020. A big market means big competition, which is why publishers need definitive analytics overviews, like those provided by Qlik Sense dashboards.

The question is: how do big publishers stand out from the rest of the market? And with so many authors of both fiction and non-fiction embracing self-publishing, is it possible to make an impact and cement yourself in the minds of readers?

Anticipating market trends

Any publisher or author that writes for-profit – and doesn’t put out work just for the love of it – knows that they need to strike while the iron is hot. It’s no use printing thousands of copies of a novel in a genre that readers aren’t interested in at the moment. They need data to spot trends and patterns, like which authors are worth investing in.

Humans are fickle and can change their minds at the drop of a hat. Today, readers might be after supernatural young adult novels, while tomorrow it’s all about grounded science fiction, or historical fiction. However, by monitoring trends on social media or popular ecommerce sites, it’s possible to figure out market trends and what may be the next big hit. Instagram, for example, is an excellent resource for gathering book trends. The combination of interactions and hashtags will paint an interesting picture.

By using data scrapers and an associative engine, like Qlik Sense, you can generate an overview of which manuscripts are currently topping the charts. From there, publishers can make a call on what action to take.

Qlik dashboards for sales

Another important factor of publishing is where and how to publish the book. Physical books are still widely printed for mass-market authors, with indies only having a few hundred copies printed off for initial launches or special events. When it comes to eBooks, there is a range of markets, with Amazon Kindle being the largest.

So where is the potential audience purchasing or consuming the latest books? Are all of them buying on Amazon, Kobo, or another outlet? Do readers purchase books from the genre or do they subscribe to digital libraries with hard-caps on book lending length? All of these questions are essential to answer.

With the help of Qlik Sense data dashboards, any employee in the organisation can get detailed answers. With the right data, they can drill down to see, for example, if books sell better when on special over a weekend, over a themed holiday, or even what is driving sales to that platform.

Supercharging Qlik with Vizlib

By adding Vizlib’s powerful range of products to Qlik Sense, book publishers will find it even easier to understand their data through the power of visualisation.

With the use of Vizlib Gantt, it’s easy to keep track of the entire publishing process, from signing writers to first drafts, market, and the actual production and formatting process. All of the events are laid out in an easy-to-read Gantt chart, helping anyone get a quick overview of projects, milestones and resources.

Vizlib Library adds an extra layer of customisation to Qlik Sense data dashboards. With a growing collection of 25 product extensions, publishers can display data in a way that is engaging and easy to understand.

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