New study: Both e-books and print are popular

[Jim]

My publisher e-mailed this AP wire to me.

Thursday, Jan 16
New York (AP) - A new survey from the Pew Research Center reports more adults than ever own an e-reading device, but print books are doing just fine.

Based on interviews conducted earlier this month, the study released Thursday shows 50% of respondents saying they have a tablet or stand-alone device such as Amazon.com's Kindle. That's up from 43% in September.

The survey says nearly 3 out of 10 adults read an e-book over the past year, compared to 23% who had done so when asked in 2012. Only around 4% read e-books exclusively.

Sales for e-books are growing, but have leveled off over the past couple of years. They're believed to comprise 25% to 30% of the general trade market, with commercial fiction especially popular for e-books.

Associated Press

[Shannon]

I found a study a study sometime last year (with the information you gave this could be a little off now) that showed only about 45% of the US population actually had an e-reader or iPad. That leaves around 65% without them. That's a lot of people and by making a book ebook specific, you're losing out on a large audience.

[Jim]

Shannon wrote: "I found a study a study sometime last year (with the information you gave this could be a little off now) that showed only about 45% of the US population actually had an e-reader or iPad. That leav..."

Good point, Shannon.

That is why mainline publishers still insist upon an author's work being published and released in several formats simultaneously - print, e-book, audio on compact disc, and audio download.

Additional production and distribution costs are more than compensated for by catering to the variety of customer preferences.

[Shannon]

Jim wrote: Good point, Shannon.

That is why mainline publishers still insist upon an author's work being published and released in several formats simultaneously - print, e-book, audio on compact

You're so right Jim. Whether you're self publishing or going with a publisher is never hurts to to put out more formats. It may cost a bit of money up front (particularly with self publishing) but if you do it right, it will pay off and not just when it comes to how much you make.

[Richard]

I hesitated with my own titles for a while, but when I got my first reader and began to order fiction online, I became a true believer. I read paper as well, and prefer it for titles with a lot of illustration and images, such as reference of text books, but for fiction, it makes the most sense for me. I now publish each title first in every eBook format through Smashwords, then on to Kindle, then finally a print version through Createspace.