L.E.K. Consulting just released the results from a media survey conducted in December 2009. I'm not surprised by the results. I've been listening to MR members for the past couple years and my anecdotal evidence agrees with the survey results.
Here is the part about ebook readers:
Quote:
E-readers are driving readership and becoming a growth driver for the book and magazine market -- the “iPod Nation” consumer segment is good, but the “e-reader Republic” offers even more opportunities for new media services
- Among active readers who own an e-reader, about 48% reported reading more books as a consequence of having such products, as compared to those who do not own an e-reader where only 15% reported reading more books (44% vs. 23%, respectively for magazines)
- 36% percent of the books read by people with e-readers represent incremental consumption—meaning more than one-third of the books read on e-readers would not have been read in print
- 40% of respondents indicated that affordability of books on e-readers was driving their increased consumption, and 47% indicated the release of more interesting books as a reason for spending more time reading print media (likely due to better discovery on e-readers)
- iPod owners consume roughly 14% more new media (8.9 hours vs. 7.8 hours per week) than the general population, while e-reader owners consume a whopping 18.2 hours of new media per week in comparison
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from:
http://www.lek.com/About/Hidden_Opportunities.cfm
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If there is a publisher reading this, I'd like you to go back and reread the part about how ebook reader owners actually buy more books, not less. That whole "a digital book sold equals a lost paper sale" is nothing but horsepucky.