Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisarippel
Good point. I agree completely. My explanation does make it sound like I am using the 50% as a "pass mark".
In fact, I will compare the percentage of that category with the percentages of other categories. The fact that three or four other categories are higher than "just published bestsellers" is the real evidence that this category is not driving eBook purchasing.
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Keep in mind that polling at Mobileread is already skewing the results--the active membership here is well-informed about ebook sources, hardware & software, and DRM-savvy, and often long-time ebook readers who've seen industry changes over the last several years. We are not, for the most part, Amazon's target demographic. Results here tell you *nothing* about what the Big 6 publishers can expect in sales.
Also, you asked, "what do you read," not "what do you buy." Those are two very different questions; even people who read bestseller ebooks may not be buying them--they could borrow them through the Kindle/Nook lending option, or read a shared copy from a multi-person account, or get them from a library, or get bootleg/pirate copies--which could be either downloaded from anonymous online sources, or shared by a friend who stripped the DRM and hands out a few copies to friends & family only.
Knowing what people read is only somewhat connected to knowing what they buy. This has been one of the great gaps in communication between publishers and readers--publishers have always focused only on sales; the literary communities have focused on reading. Publishers would like to believe that ebooks can make those categories overlap almost entirely.