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New BISG Survey Tracks Book Consumers' Behavior Toward and Preferences for E-Books

New York, NY (January 15, 2010) -- In a benchmark survey -- the first of three to be released this year -- the Book Industry Study Group, Inc. (BISG) has just revealed concrete consumer data collected directly from book readers that addresses how print book buyers access, purchase and use e-books and e-readers.

"In new markets, too much money is often spent reaching too few qualified consumers," said Angela Bole, BISG's Deputy Executive Director. "BISG's Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading survey has been tailored to help solve this problem by identifying specific consumer use patterns that are measureable and actionable."

"For example," Bole continues, "the survey found that 30% of print book buyers would wait up to three months to purchase the e-book edition of a book by their favorite author. This kind of information can inform decisions publishers need to make today about when and how to publish e-book editions."

The first of three, all to be released in 2010, the initial Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading survey also found that the majority of print book buyers rank "affordability" as the #1 reason they would choose to purchase an e-book rather than a print book of the same title. Of less consequence when it came to their purchase decisions was the extent to which an e-book was searchable or environmentally friendly.

Additional findings include:

• Roughly 1/5 of survey respondents said they've stopped purchasing print books within the past 12 months in favor of acquiring the e-book editions.
• Most survey respondents said they prefer to share e-books across devices. Only 28% said they would "definitely" purchase an e-book with Digital Rights Management (DRM); men were more likely than women to say they would not buy an e-book with DRM.
• Survey respondents indicated a clear preference for e-reader devices used as of November 2009, with computers coming in first (47%), followed by the Kindle (32%), and other e-reader devices at roughly 10% apiece.
• Although certainly growing, 81% of survey respondents say they currently purchase an e-book only "rarely" or "occasionally."

The January 2010 release of Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading is the first installment of a three-part study that breaks new ground by providing data from hundreds of print book buyers who also identify as e-book readers. Over the course of nine months (November 2009 to July 2010), respondents were and will be surveyed to find out when, why, how and where they purchase and use both e-books and e-readers. The findings will be available for sale both as a summary report and as a complete data compendium accessible online.

"This past holiday season, major e-book retailers reported unprecedented sales growth," said BISG Executive Director, Scott Lubeck. "The data available in Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading starts making sense of it all."

Data for Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading was derived from a nationally representative panel of print book consumers (men, women and teens) who complete surveys about their book purchasing behavior each month as part of PubTrack™ Consumer, a service of RR Bowker. Out of 36,000 possible panelists, 868 qualified for the BISG e-book survey by indicating they had either purchased a "digital or e-book" in the last 12 months or owned a dedicated e-reader device (such as Amazon Kindle or Sony Reader). 556 survey responses were received, yielding a response rate of 64% at a confidence level of 95%.

For more information, or to order a copy of Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading, visit http://www.bisg.org/publications/product.php?p=19&c=437.