E-Book Buyers Drive More Sales through Apps and Web Sites

New York, NY/February 28, 2012 – E-book consumers are increasing their purchase of books—both print and e-book formats—online and especially through in-app purchasing, and decreasing their use of brick-and-mortar stores, according to the Book Industry Study Group (BISG)’s closely watched Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading survey. The first installment in Volume Three of the survey reveals that more than half of e-book readers increased their use of apps to purchase books and more than one-third increased their use of general retail websites such as Amazon.com. The gains for these digital vendors come at the expense of brick and mortar bookstores, even independents. More than a third of e-book buyers decreased their spending at national chains and 29% said they are buying less from their local indie. 

“The e-book market is developing very quickly, with consumer attitudes and behavior changing over the course of months, rather than years,” said Angela Bole, BISG’s Deputy Executive Director. “One of the strengths of this study is its ability to monitor ‘Power Buyers.’ They are predictors of where the market is moving, providing us with an ideal opportunity to look at what’s coming next.”

The BISG study, which is conducted by Bowker Market Research, follows Power Buyers (those who acquire e-books at least weekly) closely for their ability to act as predictors of overall consumer behavior. The latest installment of Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading shows a rosy outlook for publishing, with nearly three-quarters of e-book Power Buyers purchasing more titles overall. Further, nearly half of Power Buyers had more total spending on books in all formats. 

Findings also show that while dedicated e-readers remain the dominant e-reading platform, especially among Power Buyers, multi-function tablet devices and smartphones are gaining in popularity. Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading results show:

·         Almost 17% of respondents indicated that tablets were the devices most used to read e-books—up from 13% in the previous survey.

·         Respondents who preferred smartphones jumped from 5.3% to 9.2%.

·         Dedicated e-readers were preferred by 60.9% of all respondents, down from 71.6% in the previous survey.

Since November 2009, Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading has been tracking the habits and preferences of book consumers who say they have acquired an e-book or a dedicated e-reading device within the past 18 months. Volume Three is sponsored by Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble, and Harlequin.

Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading is powered by Bowker Market Research. In addition to quarterly PDF Summary Reports, Volume Three of Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading is published as a dynamic online report via Real-Time Reporting: a unique web-based tool set displaying the raw data derived from responses—drillable, sortable, with on-demand accessibility.

Data for Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading was derived from a nationally representative panel of book consumers (men, women, and teens). Each month a new group of more than 6,000 respondents complete surveys about their book purchasing behavior for Bowker Market Research. Out of more than 72,000 possible panelists drawn from the last 10 months, respondents were qualified for the BISG e-book survey by indicating they had either purchased a “digital book or e-book” or owned a dedicated e-reading device (such as Kindle, NOOK, or Sony Reader). The resulting sample size for the survey was 1,036, an increase from prior fieldings.

The survey findings are available for sale both as a PDF Summary Report and as a complete data compendium, accessible online. A substantial discount is available for BISG members. For more information, or to order a copy of Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading, visit www.bisg.org/publications/product.php?p=19&c=437.

BISG EPUB SERIES EXCELLENT!

Just listened in on the first in a series of webcasts on the new EPUB 3.0 format for e-books, sponsored by the Book INdustry Study Group. Three more are in the series. Highlight recommended for those who are fairly tech savvy. 
Thanks Angela Bole for an excellent series!  www.bisg.org for details.

Author Series to Bring Jonathan Franzen to BU

by Susan Lamb

BINGHAMPTON, NEW YORK/February 17, 2012--The spring 2012 Readers’ Series will feature the acclaimed authors Jonathan Franzen — a National Book Award recipient who has graced the cover of TIME magazine — and C.K. Williams, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet.

The Binghamton Center for Writers (BCW), established six years ago, hosts the Readers’ Series in collaboration with the creative writing program at Binghamton University.
Christine Gelineau, associate director of the creative writing department, said the BCW Readers’ Series is sponsored by the BU English department.

“Each spring semester the series brings to campus contemporary writers whose creative work we believe will be of interest to anyone who enjoys fiction and/or poetry,” Gelineau wrote in an email.

Maria Gillan, a professor of English, general literature and rhetoric, said the speakers are chosen using two criteria. Two are recipients of Binghamton University’s two book awards, the John Gardner Fiction Award and the Milt Kessler Poetry Award. The other readers are suggested by the creative writing faculty.
Authors of books of poetry and fiction may submit their works to the creative writing department to be considered for the awards, according to the department’s website. Two members from the department serve as judges, one for each award, and select the work that they feel represents the strongest works of poetry and fiction of the year. The winners of the awards receive $1,000 each.

This year’s Readers’ Series consists of six readers across five presentations. Jonathan Franzen and C.K. Williams are the 2011 recipients of the John Gardner Fiction Award and the Milt Kessler Poetry Award, respectively. Novelist Minrose Gwin, graphic novelist Katherine Arnoldi, poet Marilyn Nelson and publishers Vivian Shipley and Jim Reese have also been selected to present for the series.

“There are a number of factors to consider in setting up the readings,” Gillan said. “Once we find who the judges have chosen as the winners of the [Book Awards], we choose additional readers based on diversity of gender and ethnicity, and also based on getting writers who are willing to come to Binghamton to read.”
Gelineau said she believes the Readers’ Series would appeal to all students because they choose authors with wide appeal who write on a broad range of topics.

Jonathan Franzen, the recipient of the John Gardner Fiction Award for his novel “Freedom,” will read at 6:15 p.m. on March 7 in the Mandela Room. Franzen is a National Book Award winner, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and a New York Times’ bestselling author. His other works include novels the “Twenty-Seventh City” (1988), “Strong Motion” (1992) and “The Corrections” (2001) as well as a collection of essays and a memoir.
“Students should be aware that Jonathan Franzen is a major American writer and this is an opportunity to hear him read and discuss his work that they will remember in the years to come,” Gillan said.

C.K. Williams, the recipient of the Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award for his collection “Wait,” will be reading at 8 p.m. on March 20 in Science II room 149. Williams is a Pulitzer Prize winner, a National Book Award winner and author of 13 collections of poetry.

Gillan said she was able to book Williams for the BCW Readers’ Series because she knows him personally.
“He also felt very happy about getting the BU Milt Kessler Award because he thought it brought attention to this book and he was anxious to do that,” Gillan said. “He had a nonfiction book out the same year and that got lots of attention, and he felt it drew attention away from this book of poems.”

In the past, the Readers’ Series has featured authors such as Ted Kooser in 2005, the same year he won the Pulitzer Prize and was also named Poet Laureate of the United States, Maxine Kumin, Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1981-82 and Mark Doty, National Book Award winner for poetry in 2008.

Gillan recommended that students get their books signed by the authors and ask questions because it is a great opportunity to have a one-on-one discussion with them.

The Readers’ Series opens at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 21 in Science I room 149 with a reading by Minrose Gwin, author of the novel “The Queen of Palmyra.” All events are free and open to the public.

New IndieCommerce Policy Bans Amazon Titles

NEW YORK, NY/February 9, 2012--On Monday, IndieCommerce, a for-profit subsidiary of the American Booksellers Association, informed subscribing stores of a new policy regarding available inventory. Beginning this week, only publishers’ titles that are made available to retailers for sale in all available formats will be included in the IndieCommerce inventory database.

According to Publishers Weekly, IndieCommerce began removing Amazon titles from its database earlier this week, joining Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and Indigo Books’ decision to keep Amazon published titles out of their physical bookstores. The booksellers feel that Amazon’s push for exclusivity in eBooks is hurting the publishing industry.

In an e-mail to its users, IndieCommerce explained:

This decision was made to support publishers committed to fostering a diverse and robust publishing industry — and to making books as widely available to consumers as possible — and in support of the bricks-and-mortar retail sales channel, which offers an essential — and unique — venue for discovering and marketing new titles of both established and debut authors.

All retailers using the IndieCommerce platform are free to stock any published books from any publisher in their stores and/or to fulfill any customer orders through another source. This policy change in no way affects that ability. Bookstores using IndieCommerce have the option of adding any title to their individual store’s online database and/or fulfilling orders through other means.

IndieCommerce said that it was instituting the policy change in response to Amazon.com’s plans to distribute its print catalog through conventional means while “it seems that they are simultaneously pursuing a strategy of locking in e-book exclusives, which other retailers are not allowed to sell. IndieCommerce believes that this is wrong, and that any book title for sale should be available to all retailers in the same formats and on the same basis.”

This week’s e-mail underscored, however, that “any IndieCommerce store that would like to list one or more of Amazon’s titles on [their] website may do so by creating the title as a custom product.  This will also cause it to appear in the search with other books — but only on [their] store’s site.”

Yale Publishing Programs Announced for 2012

Yale University in New Haven, CT is now accepting applications for two week-long publishing programs.

Leadership Strategies in Magazine & Digital Publishing  will be held July 15 to 20, 2012 

Leadership Strategies in Book Publishing is scheduled for July 22 to 27, 2012

These week-long programs held on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, CT provide print and digital publishing profession

Publish Post

als with the skills they need to prosper in a time of unprecedented change and opportunity.

The Yale Publishing Course offers a unique curriculum that focuses on forward-looking approaches to publishing as a global enterprise and provides in-depth information on the latest advances in technology.
 

Its outstanding speakers, carefully selected for their expertise, teaching skills, and demonstrated performance as innovators, include leading publishing executives and industry experts as well as distinguished faculty from the Yale School of Management.

Limited to only 80 participants, its collegial and informal atmosphere allows participants to receive personal attention from speakers at meals and receptions as well as in small group discussions and one-on-one counseling sessions.

Apply now or for more information, click here. Enrollment is limited.