Legal Research

Some Interesting eBook Statistics

The International Digital Publishing Forum stats on eBook sales:

You might also want to look at this Reuters article:

Penguin signs China e-book deal as sales rise in U.S.

Highlights:

1. Penguin?s ebook sales in the first 3 months of 2009 are up 7 times as compared to the first 3 months of 2008.
2. Currently ebooks account for up to 1% of their ebook sales. They expect the share to be greater than 1% by end of the year.
3. John Makinson, CEO of Penguin, said they were ?running up to around 1 percent of sales? in the U.S. and would be more than 1 percent by the end of the year.

Also, there is some interesting news about eTextbook sales and the impact free eBooks have on them.

At London Book Fair, Panel Says Two-Year British E-Textbook Study is Myth-Shattering

Panel "participants and administrators from Britain?s Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) discussed the results of a recently concluded "observatory" project in which JISC provided free access for two years to 36 core e-textbooks in science, technology and medicine to all U.K. university students, in order to study usage patterns.

The full report will be released in June. The initial findings "shattered some myths" about e-books, said Hazel Woodward, university librarian and press director at Cranford (U.K.) University. "We hope the study will help put some dynamism into the marketplace."

"Among the most important findings for publishers is that having access to the e-texts had "no impact" on print sales. While the e-texts were "heavily used," figures showed that print sales, anaylzed using Nielsen statistics, and coupled with a formula for natural attrition of print sales, remained steady. In addition, Woodward said the study laid to rest the myth of a so-called "Google" generation, as use of the e-textbooks was strong across all age groups. As for how students used the e-books, specifically, whether they read online, the jury is still out, Woodward noted. The average session was about 13 minutes and involved eight pages, but users generally dipped in and out of the e-texts, rather than read them for extended periods."

"JISC's Liam Earney noted that users are "deeply unhappy" with the current models for buying e-books, and urged publishers to see e-books as a "new market to exploit and grow," rather than a threat to their existing business."

The good boat 'Book' is shifting the sails.

Stephen

Full post as published by Stephen's Lighthouse on April 22, 2009 (boomark / email).