After years of obscurity, e-books have now had a major impact on publishers - e-book sales have surpassed printed books in Europe and North America, and this trend is expanding around the world . For publishers, with the popularity of mobile terminals such as handheld reading devices and the development of price supply chain models, the development of e-books will present both opportunities and challenges. What needs to be done now is not to predict the future, but to carefully assess the current status of the industry - e-books are still facing adoption and profitability issues in the development process, so as to help publishers and their collaborators, at least in theory, survive in the new environment. able to thrive.
The development history of e-books will not be repeated here, but we can pay attention to several historical turning points: In 2007, Amazon launched the e-ink reader, which showed extraordinary potential for the development of e-commerce. The popularity of Kindle has made e-books a consumer trend, especially for narrative texts. The question now is whether the popularity of tablet computers will herald a similar trend. Will it bring about a qualitative change in e-book consumption, or is it just a quantitative change in its development process.
The development trend of e-book adoption
More and more studies have confirmed that e-book reading is gradually replacing paper book reading, and this phenomenon is particularly obvious in the United States. In December 2012, the Pew Research Center found that 23% of Americans over the age of 16 had read an e-book in the past year, up from 16% the year before. During the same period, the reading share of printed books in the United States dropped from 72% to 67%. The digitization of adult books is even more obvious. Data from Book Stats shows that from 2010 to 2011, the proportion of adult book e-book revenue in publishers' total revenue increased from 13% to 30%. Of course, the price is that the revenue from mass-market paper books dropped from 33% to 24% during the same period. In other areas, such as the book trade for minors, there is also a trend of growth in e-books and decline in paper books. With the popularity of e-readers, this phenomenon will become more common.
However, the adoption of e-books in higher education is taking a completely different route from that of popular books. Steve Paxhia, an industry analyst at Lighthouse Digital Strategy, pointed out that traditional educational publishers that used to sell paper content at high prices have not adopted the method of selling electronic versions of paper content, but have further provided interactive learning systems. "By shifting the focus to integrated learning systems, publishers can provide both paper and electronic learning content at a very low price. Traditional publishers do not have this advantage." Paxhia co-authored "Book Industry Research Group" The (BISG) semi-annual report records in detail the interaction between students in printed books and digital courses.
Consumer attitudes
Since 2009, BISG has also been reporting on consumers’ e-book reading and purchasing behavior. The report shows that portable device use continues to influence e-book adoption behavior. Just as Amazon successfully combined dedicated e-readers with e-commerce to boost narrative fiction reading, other electronic devices have since adopted the e-book format to drive growth in non-fiction texts. From early 2010 to mid-2011, dedicated e-readers replaced PCs as the most popular e-reading device. However, the subsequent rise of tablet computers (mainly led by Amazon’s Kindle Fire) changed the situation. Another March report showed that tablets and dedicated readers accounted for 43.9% and 42% respectively. (See table below).
BISG's research also shows which books are most affected by the e-book format. In mid-2011, e-books in the fiction category, especially "entertainment" fiction (e.g., mysteries, romance novels), dominated dedicated e-readers. However, with the rise of tablets, general fiction e-books began to disappear from dedicated e-book readers, and e-books of other types of novels began to gain popularity in tablets (see table below).
Overall, those who use dedicated e-readers prefer popular novels and mystery/thriller-style novels, with selection rates 7.4% and 6.4 higher than the average (63.3% and 62.9%) respectively. %. Oddly, however, the selection ratio of these two novels among tablet users is slightly below average.
On the other hand, among users who use computers to read e-books, the reading rate of science fiction novels is higher than the average (44.2%) at 6.8%.
BISG’s student attitude survey found that digital adoption in higher education is far from being as simple as e-books, and is more inclined to adopt integrated learning systems, such as Cengage’s CengageBrain platform or Pearson's MyLab system. Tablets and e-readers, dominant desktop computers and laptops, coupled with increasingly complex learning environments, are simultaneously promoting the transformation of educational publishing into a digital direction that is different from traditional paper publishing.
Another factor affecting tablet e-book consumption is that these new devices are not designed specifically for reading, but can do many other things. Studies have shown that activities such as video, audio, games and general web browsing, sending and receiving emails, etc. will affect the reading of e-books. Compared with Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook tablet, this is more important in Apple’s iPad and The performance is more obvious on Android tablets. Readers are switching from dedicated e-readers to tablets. More importantly, once readers become accustomed to reading e-books, fewer readers will read and buy paper books.
Reading devices, demographics and the fate of printed books
Young, well-educated and financially advantaged consumers prefer e-books and e-reading to the average consumer equipment. BISG began e-book research in 2009. The general profile of e-book adopters at that time was as follows: male, between 30 and 44 years old, with a college degree and an income between US$50,000 and US$75,000. Today, far more women than men read e-books. Of course, although the e-book reading rates of other age groups, education levels, employment and income groups are not as good as the former, they are still very high. For example, compared with 2010, there are many more retired respondents over 55 who are strong buyers (read e-books at least once a week). Although young consumers still dominate e-book consumption today, the entire market is expanding.
This means that although printed books will still be popular in the short term, the audience will gradually shrink. The biggest advantages of printed books—comfort, no technical overhead, and low cost—will no longer survive as the cost of reading devices drops and the comfort experience of digital reading increases.
In fact, just like vinyl records did for the record industry, printed books could find a sustainable niche to survive in or develop based on a value proposition that has yet to be defined. Based on this possibility, many analysts believe that in the long run, printed books will still be a mass communication medium for book content.
The above predictions warn us that compared to some shortcomings of e-books, such as technical failures, DRM and reading software lifespan, printed books are still a more open and stable reading and storage medium. For e-books to completely replace printed books, they must meet the needs of future readers, researchers, and archivists.
E-book discovery channels
BISG research shows that Amazon occupies a dominant position in the secondary sales channel of e-books. 73% of respondents obtain e-books through the Amazon website, while another 13% obtain e-books through the Kindle app. Of course, Amazon is not alone. Another 21% of respondents obtain e-books through the Barnes & Noble website, followed by public libraries, Apple's iBooks/iTunes apps, and a range of other smaller sources. E-book source. People mostly discover e-books by purchasing e-reader apps on Android devices or Apple's IOS store, such as Google Play Books, Kobo and other reading programs. With the exception of Barnes & Noble and some public libraries, e-books are rarely found in physical stores. Some publishers have taken advantage of this by partnering with Amazon to have their books appear on Amazon's "New Books List." Publishers are understandably nervous, though, and are also experimenting with other book discovery techniques, such as publisher or author promotion through social media. However, the results are not great so far.
Online reviews, printed book reviews, recommendations from friends and family members, and free downloads of sample chapters remain the most influential factors in e-book purchases.
BISG’s survey on e-book discovery channels focuses on two independent questions, one is the primary source of general e-book information, and the other is the specific method respondents most commonly use to obtain and read e-books. . Amazon.com became the highest-ranking general e-book information source at 47.4%, and the highest-ranking specific e-book discovery source at 25.2%. Amazon’s emails and newsletters are also important sources of e-book information, accounting for 26.1%. Recommendations from family and friends also rank highly, with the proportions of general information sources and specific discovery sources accounting for 24.4% and 16.1% respectively. Social networks accounted for 15.7% of general book information discovery, but only 3.5% of specific e-book discovery. Other secondary sales channels, especially Barnes & Noble and Apple, are good sources of general e-book information, accounting for 14.7% and 10.7% respectively. But they are not the main channels for discovering specific books, accounting for only 7.2% and 3.7%. The library should be the main channel for readers to discover e-books. However, this potential is hindered by current disagreements between publishers and libraries over the pricing and accessibility of e-books. A study in Library Journal found that library users frequently complain that electronic catalogs are too small. Future research will attempt to explore how to break the current impasse and allow patrons to purchase the e-books they want through their libraries. BISG's research also found that among power buyers (those who buy e-books every week), libraries are the third most popular source of e-books, accounting for 24.9%, trailing only 0.5% behind Barnes & Noble.
In terms of price, e-books have obvious advantages over printed versions. This can be seen in Apple's controversial attempts to implement agency pricing measures. However, this calculation does not take the total cost into account. While the price of dedicated e-readers is falling rapidly, the price of tablets, an increasingly popular e-reading device, remains a barrier to purchase for many consumers. For e-books to beat paper books, tablets will have to drop in price, or smartphone screens will have to get bigger but consumers will still be able to afford them. Ostensibly, e-book prices are a reflection of their reduced printing and distribution costs. That’s how consumers see it. In the BISG survey, respondents were asked what is the highest e-book price they would accept. Many people say that hard copy e-books can cost up to $30, while e-books from other stores should cost no more than $17. They believe that the $9 e-book is a "great value", the $13 e-book is "a little expensive but reasonable", but the $18 e-book is "too expensive". Since May 2012, the proportion of "excellent value" and "a little expensive but reasonable" has slowly increased. It also means that, regardless of format, public perception of books themselves is gradually changing.
It’s important to note that there is not much difference in content development, editing, and marketing costs between print books and e-books. The reason why the price of e-books is very low is to cater to the public’s expectation of book prices due to excessive underestimation of the cost of e-books, and the aggressive strategies adopted by online retailers like Amazon have further lowered e-book prices. Publishers have streamlined internal processes, in some cases to make up for the lack of profitability caused by low e-book prices. But ultimately, it will be up to authors and publishers to develop new sources of value (both in content and marketing) that cannot be replicated by distributors.
The Resale Dilemma
Another price-related issue is that e-books cannot, or should not, be resold. Bill Rosenblatt, an analyst at GiantSteps Media, pointed out that e-book trading is completely different from paper books. Paper book trading is a real transaction that requires buyers and sellers, but the seller does not own the copyright of the content sold. . In contrast, an e-book transaction is a rights-licensing agreement that requires a licensee (buyer) and an licensor (seller). The sellers, i.e. publishers and channel partners, have full control over the content. According to the publisher/distributor's policy, resale of DRM-protected works, not even rental, is strictly prohibited.
In January this year, Amazon applied for a patent to allow users to resell the content of e-books while deleting all local e-book copies of the original users.
Rosenblatt pointed out that this "digital-first sales" strategy is very problematic, such as the difficulty of deleting all local copies of e-books across multiple Kindle devices and applications. While libraries and other rights advocates would like to push for more open resale practices, that is unlikely to happen given the clutter of DRM and the current state of proprietary e-book platforms.
Resale harms publishers’ vested interests because DRM-protected e-books can prevent e-book prices from falling further. If Amazon did this, the close connection between authors and publishers might also be lost. Rosenblatt believes the publisher will fight a lengthy legal battle over the issue.
According to BISG research, resale issues have not yet become a major obstacle to e-book consumption. Surveys over the past four years show that an average of only 13% of respondents said that "not being able to legally sell e-books after reading them" is a big problem, and 17% believed that this had only a more or less impact. Future investigations will explore how the inability to resell affects those who have not yet started reading e-books because of it.
On the other hand, resale issues may also involve secondary market income for authors and publishers, which is not possible in the printed book market. However, due to technical barriers to such transactions, proprietary competition from e-book platforms, and some short-term strategies from large publishers, resale is not yet feasible in the short term.
Conclusion
Perhaps the biggest barriers to e-book adoption are the novelty of the medium itself and its control by proprietary technology companies. A cursory look across many apps and reading devices reveals a consistency in the e-reading experience that will be refined over time to appeal to a wider audience. Even aggressive companies like Amazon and Apple can succumb to public pressure and the demands of readers and researchers. After all, this need has never changed since the advent of reading.
Until then, however, e-books will remain a disruptive force for authors, publishers and distributors, and will gradually foster digital reading habits among readers. (