Of all the stats being thrown about in the discussion of e-publishing, e vs. print sales, e-readers, e-this and e-that, this is the very first stat to grab my attention. Literally twist my head to look right at it.
Publishers Weekly sites a recent 9-month survey “of hundreds of e-book consumers” by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), and says that it is the first of three such reports due in 2010. The Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading study claims to be “[t]he first comprehensive survey of U.S. e-book consumers’ behavior and preferences…with the goal of understanding their real-time purchase and reading habits.”
The intentions of all statisticians and statistical displays of course being all good and well and all that, if you’re lucky enough to be a BISG member, you can read the entire survey and view the exact stats for a measly $150. Outside that slim chance, however, you’ll have to rely upon the relayed opinions of ‘hundreds’ of surveyed e-book consumers when evaluating this revelation. Disregarding also such phenomenally blatant misrepresentations by Amazon as its claims that e-books outsold print.
It can be agreed that consumers of books, or reading material, are altering their reading and purchasing habits. The economy is certainly a factor in this, as is society, status, cultural mores, et cetera et cetera. Figure just plain interest as well. Have any studies distinguished between the e-material consumption of fiction, non, and reference? Between age and income levels? Reasons for e-consumption? Location of said consumption? All of these factors play into the results of a survey that is conducted upon the slimmest of market shares.
After all, the percentage of the public who are actually reading (anything at all) shrinks yearly. Restrict it further to those of technological bent and you’ve effectively severely reduced the numbers by eliminating the techno-deficient, be it self-imposed (via reasons of anti- or aging or desire) or economic (via reasons of cost or time or locale). So, while a stat that declares “nearly 20% of respondents say they’ve stopped buying print books in favor of buying e-books” is enough to give one whiplash, ensuing reflection upon its source helps one realize that change has not occurred near as much as we are led to believe.
Nor so much as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos may believe, despite his apparently saying “that he believes that the print book will eventually disappear” (quite possibly way back in this 2007 interview with Charlie Rose – at 54 minutes long, I don’t have the time nor inclination to listen, but I haven’t been able to find any other direct attribution).
I am certain that both the number of folks reading electronically and purchasing e-texts will increase, especially in the environments of academia and industry. I am equally certain that hard copy texts will not vanish from Earth.
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I don’t believe for a second that print books will disappear, because beyond myself I know there are still plenty of other Bibliophiles who want a physical book. I am certainly not against e-books-they just arent my preferred medium to read.
Pro’s for e-books: Can skip from ToC directly to desored story or chapter
Con’s for e-books: Can’t fall asleep on couch with open book over face
Pro’s: Can take many books with you virtually anywhere
Con’s: When that eventual EMP pulse hits-you lost your library
any others?
Hi David – thanks for your thoughts. I love the EMP idea
Personally, I think every school in America – at every level except perhaps the initial reading year(s) – should be e-book equipped. Issue every student the year’s texts, with assigned novels and teacher’s recommended reading lists and ‘for further reading’ titles designed for each course elective. The fundamental equality of this just stuns me. This is a no-brainer far as I’m concerned.
I plan to pick up an e-reader, sooner now than later. Had just about settled on the Nook, till I discovered 2 new offerings on the market in 2010. Decisions, decisions.
That’s an interesting idea about schools. My kids are still pretty young maybe it could be in force for them.
I also meant to ask, IF you feel like answering, what has been the percentage of RBE e-book sales? Is it 20% yet?
I do have to admit having scant experience with e-books yet, but I did snag the free REH Crimson Shadows when it was available a little while back (kindle for use on home PC) and thats why I mentioned enjoying the chapter/track skipping like a DVD so I could get right to work on The Black Stone for the 50th time.
Hard copies are going to be around for a long, long time, if nor forever. They might keep getting more and more expensive, but they’ll be around.
And I’m one of those who doesn’t buy into the statistics about fewer and fewer people are reading all the time. I think more and more people are reading all the time but are doing so in non-traditional venues that no one thinks of as “reading” because it’s not on paper. Sure, there are ebooks, but I think many readers are turning to other electronic formats, such as on their PC or cell or Blueberry or whatever, because there’s no extra cost. Of course WHAT people are reading is probably mostly crap, blogs and such, but at least they’re reading something.
When e-readers get down to a hundred bucks and less, they’ll become an even larger part of the market. But a huge part of the fiction market is driven by folks who only read 2 or 3 books a year, the big-name best-sellers (Brown, King, Rowling, Rice, and the like). I don’t see too many of those readers shelling out the bucks for a Nook or Kindle. On the other hand, niche readers (such as fantasy fans, for example) will probably be more likely to pick up an e-reader once the price is right.
To quote The Economist magazine:
“A lot of the people who read a bestselling novel, for example, do not read much other fiction. By contrast, the audience for an obscure novel is largely composed of people who read a lot. That means the least popular books are judged by people who have the highest standards, while the most popular are judged by people who literally do not know any better. An American who read just one book this year was disproportionately likely to have read ‘The Lost Symbol’, by Dan Brown. He almost certainly liked it.”
I LOVE that quote, Ty! I’ll be using it elsewhere, thank you very much.
As for more people reading, yes, of course I must agree, once you throw in blogs and Twitter. As a whole, we’re consuming more verbiage than ever, and most of it opinion – but are we reading for personal enjoyment so much any more?
I don’t think so. That’s a good reason why magazines first became more about the adverts than the contents, then started shrinking, then closing. And why newspapers are 1/3 their previous glorious sizes, and closing.
Again, I love that quote. It can sum up even this debate. Dang! Is that spot on. Found it, cross posted on Facebook. If I had the time, I’d read
“Formal Theories of Mass Behaviour” (1963), William McPhee, but for now I’ll settle for these lines.
Let me put it this way: Sales: 0; Inquiries for sales of pending titles: 2; Amazon stats of ‘best-selling’ free sales: about 50. So the short answer is No.
Here’s another tidbit from PW -
New Study Finds Reading Holding Steady Among Young People
“A new report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation on media usage found some relatively good news for book publishers amid findings that generally determined that 8-to-18 year-olds are consuming more digital media than ever. According to Generation M, total media usage by that age group rose to seven hours and 38 minutes per day in 2009 from six hours and 21 minutes in 2004. Time spent with digital media rose in all categories, while the use of print media fell from an average of 43 minutes per day in 2004 to 38 minutes in 2009. The decline in reading print was due entirely to young people spending less time with magazines and newspapers over the last five years, while the time spent reading remained steady at about 25 minutes per day.”
Again, how much of ‘digital media’ is genre, let alone fiction reading?
Jason, just to throw some numbers your way and to give you something to think about …
I have 8 ebooks available at Amazon (I won’t go into Smashwords and other online venues, mainly because the money there isn’t as much, sometimes negligible). I’m a nobody writer. I’m not even a low-lister, let alone a midlister or big-name writer.
Right now I average about 50 ebook sales a month. That’s not much, but it has been slowly climbing each month, so maybe in a year I’ll average 100 a month or 200 or maybe 10. I don’t know.
But of those 50 or so I sell each month, 50 percent or better are for SEVER, my little collection of 5 horror short stories. Another 25 percent is for my non-fiction book about beer. The final 25 percent is made up of the four fantasy books I have there, three novels and a short story collection. I also have two screenplays for sale at Amazon, but the sales for those are very, very rare.
So, this would seem to tell me I need to write more horror. Either I’m a much better horror writer than I am fantasy writer (which, actually, I do think is true), or the horror market has a wider base than the fantasy market (which I also think is true). And I should be writing more about beer.
But I keep writing more fantasy. Stupid me. Then again, I know more writers and editors who work in fantasy than any other genre.
I’ll also throw out this: I have yet to be able to draw any conclusions about what drives my Amazon sales. I’ve gone out to tons of Web sites and done tons of linking and chatting, etc., only to not sell anything for the next week. But then sometimes I do absolutely nothing and find out I’ve sold 10 ebooks in a day.
Also, the ebook sales seem to come in small waves; I don’t sell anything for a few days, then suddenly I sell 5 books in one afternoon.
I did have one month where I sold more than 100 ebooks. Why? I don’t have a clue. I did nothing special that month. I also had one month where I only sold about 10 books, but that was my very first month, so I felt that was understandable.
Thanks for sharing those numbers Ty. I find all you’ve relayed very interesting actually. Much to ponder, learn, test, and do. Any chance you’ve time and interest in converting / creating some ebooks?
I’m finally coming to the realization that I’m just plain trying to do too much all at once and getting nothing done. When I had a boss to handle administration and most marketing and another person handling the website, leaving me artistic control of content, presentation, and layout, things went much more easily into that still night