In a report released 4 days ago Forrester Research says eBook Buying is about to Spiral Upward.
James McQuivey says
2010 will end with $966 million in eBooks sold to consumers. By 2015, the industry will have nearly tripled to almost $3 billion, a point at which the industry will be forever altered.
.. the success of the devices(eReaders, beginning with the Kindle in 2007) has been fueled by the convenient availability of the most popular books in digital form, often priced significantly below their physical counterparts. This fact has drawn consumers in more rapidly than we have seen in any other media.
He claims that research shows that most readers today either get their books from a library or borrow from a friend. Currently only 7% of online adults who read books read e-books, but he says
that 7% happens to be a very attractive bunch: they read the most books and spend the most money on books. And here’s the kicker – the average eBook reader already consumes 41% of books in digital form. Oh, and that includes the people who don’t have an eReader yet, which is nearly half of them. For those that have a Kindle or other eReader, they read 66% of their books digitally.
He goes on to say this has huge implications for the publishing industry. How does it feel to be part of a revolution?
I've run the poll over on the right twice already this year, but now I'm curious to see what the results are this time.
7 comments:
I do love my device, though I'm not yet convinced it is a revolution given that it is harder in many ways for me to get books in digital format than in physical format due to all the geographic restrictions. As someone who would like to do away with traditional books all together I suspect I am a long way off (and I originally thought it would take 5 years but now think that is unrealistic and it will take much longer because I live in Australia
I expect to continue to read made-from-paper books as well as digital ones. I think even if 50% of readers buy e-books, the others will still want conventional books.
I believe the restrictions will ease over time. It makes sense for publishers to make their books available world wide. As for me eBooks are a blessing and I'm reading so much more.
I think I will always read some physical books, but I do love my ereader. It will be better once some of the issues, like geographical restrictions are resolved.
I love my Kindle, but I do read regular books as well. I went back through my stats for this year and am reading about 40% on the Kindle. That is in line with what I did last year as well (after the point that I got the Kindle). I suspect that percentage may creep up a bit to 50% or so, but I know I will always read regular books too.
I will be glad that geographical restrictions will change at some point (I hope). It's frustrating to not be able to get a book that is available elsewhere.
Well, I think it is a bit easy for me to speak up. I have read 40 % of my first book though.
Kerrie, I have tried to download a Kindle book from Netgalley. I hope I found out how to get it into my Kindle just now (seems I had to add their mail address as one I am willing to receive mail from in my Kindle account). If it doesn´t work, I will be back, wailing until you or someone else can solve the problem for me ;D
Oh, I am a Luddite, it seems. I love real books, as I have said in the blogosphere--the way they look, feel, smell, piled up on my nightstand, arranged on the bookshelves with pottery and sculptures.
I read or work at the computer surrounded by my books and other things which I care about, and it makes me smile.
And, key to this, is that I like to share books with friends, so I buy some paperbooks and do that.
And carrying around one in one's bag is no big deal. A paperback doesn't weigh much.
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