Statistics from IDPF/BEA Trade Show

[Robertb]

Dear All:

I just got back with my team from the big joint IDPF/BEA Conference and Trade Show. This is a key event all about eBooks and eBook Readers. It is four days of intense sessions where the experts discuss everything from "The Agency Model" to "the Latest Statistics" on eBooks.

This is NOT your normal "junket". You work day and night and you get little sleep. There are important working-dinner meetings at night and a thousand exhibits of everything from devices to independent publishers. It is held in New York. "IDPF" stands for International Digital Publishing Forum and "BEA" is Book Expo America. Subjects varie from EPUB as a universal standard to DRM to devices to the need to change EPUB to accomodate Chinese and Taiwanese eBooks. All the Movers and Shakers are there from Apple to Adobe and from Books On Board to EZRead.

Here are some interesting statistics I got from just one session:

eBooks now account for 5% OF ALL BOOK SALES!

The sharp take-off was Q1 of 2009 and has been growing enormously ever since.

YET... eBooks have NOT really hurt pBook (Printed Book) sales. 40% said they own an eBook Reader and still buy just as many or more pBooks as they did before.

51% of all eBooks are purchased now my men so it is almost 50-50. Most people who buy eBooks earn $75,000 a year or more... but prices for the devices are dropping.

48% of all people who buy eBooks live in the suburbs.

37% of ALL people who bought eBooks bought their device in the last 2-6 months!

44% buy all their eBooks online and that number is climbing.

The main reasons mentioned as to WHY a person bought an eBook are: affordability, ease of downloading versus going to a book store, readability, and helping the environment.

37% read on their computer, 32% on a Kindle, 9% on a Sony, 10% on an iPhone, 3% on a Nook, and 1% on an Astak.

When asked what they thought of DRM, 28% said DRM was a BIG issue, 39% said MAYBE is is a major issue, and 30% said NO issue.

eBooks are generally $6.25 less than pBooks on average.

The main reasons people buy eBook Readers are: portability, instant access to eBooks, they can carry theuir entire library on one device, and a lot of eBooks are free.

Favorite categories of eBooks in order are: General Fiction, Detective, How To Guides, Science Fiction, Business and Financial, Romance.

I thought you might find some of this to be of interest. They polled 40,000 eBook consumers and the confidence level is 95% on the sampling.