Thursday, August 09, 2012

The Latest Publishing Craze: Print Books?


By Christopher Zara | August 7, 2012 

It looks like all those avowed Kindle fanatics might be going through ink withdrawal -- or so says a new report funded by a few titans of old media.
The report, published last week by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), found that fewer consumers are purchasing books exclusively in electronic formats, while the number of booklovers who have "no preference" for e-books over print books is increasing.

Image  - Flickr/CreativeCommons

Page Turners: A new report shows that fewer consumers are purchasing books exclusively in electronic formats.
According to the BISG, the percentage of e-book consumers who purchased books "exclusively or mostly" in e-book formats has decreased from 70 percent in August 2011 to 60 percent in May 2012. Meanwhile, the number of respondents who have no preference for either e-book or print formats, or who buy some genres in e-book format and others in print, rose from 25 percent to 34 percent.
The study suggests that the widespread fervor over e-books, which had been growing steadily since Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) first released its Kindle e-reader in 2007, might be leveling off. While the results of the survey might also appear to be a dream come true for the traditional publishing industry, it's worth mentioning that the research was funded by Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookstore chain, and Baker & Taylor, one of the world's largest book distributors. 
Full story at Business & Books

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