There’s a new study out in publishing town, the BISG survey on e-book consumerism. (Via Richard Curtis.)
New York, NY (January 15, 2010) — In a benchmark survey — the first of three to be released this year — the Book Industry Study Group, Inc. (BISG) has just revealed concrete consumer data collected directly from book readers that addresses how print book buyers access, purchase and use e-books and e-readers.
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“For example,” Bole continues, “the survey found that 30% of print book buyers would wait up to three months to purchase the e-book edition of a book by their favorite author. This kind of information can inform decisions publishers need to make today about when and how to publish e-book editions.”
This doesn’t quite ring true for me. That is, I think these respondents are speaking from intent rather than reality. Sure, I tell myself I’ll take a look at such-and-such a book in the Kindle edition, when it’s finally released, but, y’know, I forget. There’s a lot of information out there and new info tends to bump old info aside. Now if Amazon/the Big Six publishers would let me download the sample chapter to my Kindle I could read it immediately and then, if I liked it, pre-order the full book which would arrive on pub. date and sort of twinkle at me until I read it. But I’m not going to pre-order something I can’t taste first. And, really, now hard is it to send out a free chapter a few months in advance? Where I’m concerned, planning to buy a Kindle edition doesn’t lead to a lost print sale; I don’t buy print novels anymore. But not having the sample chapter available on p-pub date does lead to a lost e-book sale. No matter how affordable it is when it’s finally released.
And Kindle editions are affordable. According to the survey, affordability is “the #1 reason they would choose to purchase an e-book rather than a print book of the same title.”
This isn’t the whole truth, either. Yes, I’ve bought more novels for my Kindle this last year than print novels in the last two or three years put together. And, yes, to some degree those purchases are based on price. ($9 is so much better than $27. In NG arithmetic, one third of the price = three times better.) But mostly it’s a convenience issue: right here, right now, and doesn’t weigh too much. (Carrying around a Stephen King book? For crazy people, or people with staff. Or people who don’t have a gym membership but made a resolution to finally get fit this year.)
So do you agree with the survey findings?
Nicola Griffith 
I have to sit this one out: I don't really have any desire or intention to do e-books. 1/3 the price…to license a thing instead of owning it. 1/3 of the price to have a thing that you can't put on your shelf. Not for me, thanks!
Nicola — as you say, I think there's more going on here than the BISG is aware of. Like you, I don't buy “first-run” hardbacks anymore (unless I'm buying a case to resell). I can't afford them, and I don't have a place to put them if I did. If I see something that looks interesting, I'll think, well, I need to look for that when it reaches the library — which may be three months, or never — and by that time, I've probably forgotten I was interested in the first place.
As a former book store employee (11 years), I know there are people who will wait one year for a hardback to come out in trade pb, and people who'll wait two years for the mass market*. There are people who only read what's in the library, and those who'll only buy / trade used books. And now there are Kindle owners / e-book buyers.
From a marketing perspective, I'd say that allowing Kindle users to download sample chapters is a good idea. Another would be a “wish-list” option. When you see a title that you're interested in, you bookmark it, and when it's available for Kindle, you're notified.
*From my experience, there are also certain groups of value-conscious people who only buy hardbacks — even when the paperback is available — then pass them around from family member to family member and friend to friend.
Dianne, do people still do that w/hardcovers? Huh. Hardcovers seem to fall apart even more quickly these days than trade paperbacks…
Nicola —
It may be a cultural thing. Your family has always done this, so you keep the tradition going even though as times change it doesn't make real sense*. People may be migrating to Kindle, but $200 – $400 is still a big up-front investment.
*For example, the woman who always cut her pot roast in two and cooked it in two pots, because her mother always did it that way. When she finally asked her why, mom explained that she didn't have a pot large enough when they were growing up to cook it in one pot.
I don't think that survey has a big enough sample to be credible.
For me the Kindle is more of a convenience thing too. I surprised myself when I started preferring the kindle reading experience to the paper book experience. But now I do. I can read the kindle with no hands, carry tons of books in my pocket, and the space thing – I'm moving, and I am ditching at least half of my books. I just don't have the space.
But price does matter. Occasionally I see a Kindle version that costs more than the paper. I say no way and walk away from both. Maybe I'll look again if that price changes.
And I'm with you on the sample chapter. I've looked at some of the smaller distributors, and there is no sample chapter! Huh-uh.
I really think it's clear that hardbacks will fade away in lieu of paperbacks and eBooks, for more reasons that just price and convenience (for instance, at some point we're going to have to look at books from an ecology standpoint: when it comes to getting a book from writer to reader in paper vs electronic, there's no contest, even taking into account the energy to run the Internet). I love hardbacks on the shelf but I prefer to read a paperback and I'm currently coveting a Kindle. I've read on everything from my laptop to my desktop to my phone along with tons of paperbacks and hardback, and electronic rocks!
Oh, and I think the sample chapter is a great idea!