Following yesterday's Research Brief on mobile connected devices, here's a closer look at the digital book buyers.
Today's e-book power buyer, someone who buys an e-book at least once
a week, is a 44-year-old woman who loves romance and is spending more on buying books now than in the past. She uses a dedicated e-reader like a Kindle instead of reading on her computer.
According to the Book Industry Study Group, new stats from its Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading survey show that:
- E-books currently make up around 11% of the total book market.
The percentage of print book consumers who say they download e-books more than doubled between October 2010 and January 2011, from 5% to almost 13%.
- Women make up 66% of e-book power buyers.
In 2009, they didn't even make up half of e-book customers (they were at 49% of the e-book market)
- Most e-books sold (58%) are fiction, with literary fiction, science fiction, and romance
each comprising over 20% of all e-book purchases
- "Power buyers" represent about 18% of the total people buying e-books today, but they buy 61% of all e-books purchased
- The
most influential factors leading to an e-book purchase are free samples and low prices.
Volume Two of BISG's survey shows the percentage of print book consumers who say they
download e-books jumped from 5% in October 2010 to nearly 13% in January 2011. In addition, two-thirds of survey respondents said they have moved exclusively, or mostly, to e-books over print. And,
despite declining sales of pricier hardbacks, overall spending on books shows an uptick over the past six months, with 44% of respondents reporting higher unit purchases and 34% reporting higher
overall spending on a combination of print books and e-books.
Scott Lubeck, BISG's Executive Director, says "... this is a market in fast motion ... this... baseline study of
consumer behavior... is essential to understanding both the velocity of change and its significance... "
Some of the results from the most recent survey show:
- Fiction
continues to dominate downloads, with literary fiction, science fiction, and romance each comprising over 20% of all format purchases
- The most influential factors leading to an e-book purchase
are free samples and low prices
- "Power Buyers" (respondents who indicated that they acquired e-books at least weekly) have moved away from computers to dedicated e-readers and
tablets much faster than the overall pool of responders
Kelly Gallagher, Vice President of Publishing Services of New Providence, NJ-based Bowker, says "... (the study) measures
consumers' pace of migration and tracks... whether e-books are in the substitutional mode or incremental mode... insight that will allow effective navigation of an extraordinary shift in the
marketplace."
Recent related news releases find that "... the iPad shows only marginal impact on the popularity of Kindle and NOOK," said Gallagher... heavy to moderate book
buyers want a dedicated device for reading that doesn't have a lot of distractions bundled with it... (but may) bring new and light e-book buyers into the market..."
Additional other
findings include:
· E-book buyers are buying fewer print books: more than 40% of survey respondents say they have reduced the number and dollars spent on
hardcover and paperback books
· Publishers are declining as a source of information about upcoming e-books, being replaced by retailers
· General fiction and mystery fiction are the fastest growing genres for e-books
· Third parties play an important
role in device acquisition: survey respondents say they more often received their device as a gift. Thus, the holiday season would have a profound impact on e-book reading
· When purchasing for themselves, survey respondents say they are most often motivated by a suggestion from a friend.
For more information about the Book Industry Study Group, please
visit here, or to access the study "Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading," please go here.