Monitoring E-Book Trends Internationally

If publishers could quickly research e-book growth in other countries ... such as Europe, Asia, Australia, North and South America ... based on digital device adoption, attitudes, and purchasing habits of e-book consumers, they would have a gold- mine of a service. A real mother load to help them make timely business decisions and maximize market share in developing countries.

The Bowker Company, you know - the one who assigns the ISBN's, but which is also one of the book industries leading business intelligence researchers, is about to instigate an annual report that monitors e-book trends internationally ... thereby providing that subject book intelligence goldmine :)

From PRWEb.com:

Bowker Launches International e-Book Monitor

Comprehensive survey on four continents will track e-book growth and consumer attitudes giving publishing industry hard data on a dynamic new format

Bowker, the leading provider of market research information and business intelligence on book markets in the U.S., through BML Bowker, in the U.K., will launch a major study that will assess and track device adoption, attitudes, and purchasing habits of e-book consumers in Europe, Asia, Australia, and North and South America. The study, commencing in January 2012 and repeating annually, will enable comparisons between e-book markets in countries experiencing different growth patterns and arm the publishing industry with a comprehensive range of qualitative and quantitative data.


“Being able to track the growth rates of e-books on a global level as countries make the shift to digital books is significant,” said Kelly Gallagher, vice-president of publishing services for Bowker. “This landmark effort will provide the international publishing industry with key metrics in understanding digital opportunities as they emerge.”

The project will map the current state of e-book use and acceptance around the world, creating a benchmark from which to track trends during subsequent studies. The research will target representative samples from the U.K., U.S., Germany, France, Spain, India, Australia, Brazil, South Korea and Japan. Consumers from these countries will be surveyed on their purchases of digital content versus traditional formats in multiple settings and contexts. The study will also explore the use and ownership of devices, from dedicated e-book readers to tablets.

The e-book monitor will be supported by key international publishing industry participants, who will have a unique opportunity to collaborate on the creation of the survey instrument and provide expertise in the interpretation of the results.

“We are delighted that the key organizations we identified to work with us on this project are on board, representing as they do different perspectives on the industry and offering a wealth of experience that will help provide valuable context for this study,” said Jo Henry, Managing Director of BML Bowker.

The list includes A.T. Kearney, the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), Pearson and Tata Consultancy Services.

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The Legitimatization of Self-Publishing

Pictured: 78 Yr. old Stanley Gordon West

Self-publishing is coming into it's own. The process is self-empowering, exposes old publishing faults (and some real charlatan practices) and is disspelling long-held myths.

"I hereby knight thee Sir Self-publishing...

Rise and assume your armor of legitimacy."

I believe you can self-publish (digitally AND print) without giving any money to so-called self-publishing outfits; rather they be "vanity" presses or the newly-minted "we-edit-for-quality-and-don't-publish-just-anybody" types...hybrids of the "we-are-the-only-ones-who-know-quality-and-what-should-be-published" traditional publishers.

Am I advocating the application of NO quality standards? Definitly not! But, there are other sources available to writers (many free) to gain this input and editing, etc. from other than these centralized-services, self-publishing houses (they are adequate if you just don't have the time). It just takes research, establishing good professional relationships through social media, etc.

Here is a revealing article on the maturation of self-publishing and how one writer played, and is playing, a part:

By Kim Ode of the Minneapolis StarTribune

Authors rewrite the book on self-publishing

It's more popular than ever, but success depends on more than writing. marketing.

Not so long ago, the way to get a book published was clear: Submit your work, twiddle your thumbs, get back the manuscript, send it out again. Eventually, if you were very good, or very lucky, a publisher would bite and, eventually, you'd be holding a book, no longer a mere writer, but an author.

Today, the digital world has ignited self-publishing, changing everything. Why wait for New York when you can plunk down your money and get a finished book in just a few months?

Make no mistake: It will be your responsibility to market it. (John's Note: Hell, new writers had this responsibility under traditional publishing, too). Many reviewers and bookstores won't take you seriously. And you may never earn back your investment, which could be as high as $20,000. Is it worth it? Apparently, it's at least worth the risk. In 2007, about 134,000 books were self-published in the United States. In 2008, that rose to more than 285,000 and in 2009 soared to more than 764,000. (John's Note: With POD and other tech, I don't believe one need pay this kind of money. Remember my commentary in paragraph 3 & 4 above).

In contrast, traditional publishers produced about 288,000 books in 2009, almost stagnant from 289,000 the year before, according to the firm R.R. Bowker, which tracks the book industry.

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