Even as more consumers buy dedicated digital reading
devices and tablets, a hybrid market for books is developing in which
readers will buy both print and digital books. That was one of the main
conclusions from Verso Digital’s “2011 Survey of Book-Buying Behavior,”
presented by the company’s Jack McKeown at last week’s ABA Winter
Institute held in New Orleans.
According to McKeown, the data, from Verso’s third
annual survey, suggest that print and digital books will coexist for a
long time. McKeown based that prediction on several trends: the number
of readers who do not intend to buy a reading device seems to be
solidifying at around half of all readers, and even among digital device
owners the preference seems to be to buy both print and digital books.
According to the survey, conducted November 30–December 4, 51.8% of book
buyers said they are unlikely to buy a reading device, up from 49.0% in
the 2010 survey and 40.2% in the 2009 survey. (In the most recent
survey, 15.8% of book buyers already owned a reading device, up from
2.9% in 2009.)
In the most avid book-buying group—those planning to buy
10 or more books—24.9% said they will buy a print book and 29.6% said
they will buy e-books. Of those planning to buy five to nine books next
year, 17.4% will buy print and 17.9% digital, while the ratio favors
print among those buying three to four books by a 20.4% to 15.6% margin.
Measured another way, 76% of device owners said they plan to buy at
least one print book in the year, and 24% will buy 10 or more print
books.
Consumers splitting their book purchases among formats
reflects the broader trend of consumers buying books in different
venues. The survey found that 49% of book buyers shop online, 43% shop
at the bookstore chains, and 36% buy books at independent stores. Moving
away from the focus on e-books, the Verso survey showed what other
studies have—that bookstores remain a principal place where readers
“discover” books. Bookstore staff recommendations trailed only personal
recommendations as a way book buyers learned about a book. And again, as
other surveys have indicated, blogs and social networks finished at the
bottom of ways readers learn about books.
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