SHOCKER! Ricoh Americas Corporation – a company that specializes in production print equipment – commissioned a ‘study’ that discovered that people like print books. It would have been news, probably, if the study discovered that consumers preferred anything else.
The study was interesting in it’s scope. It says that 60% of ebooks downloaded are never read (no mention of how many dead-tree books purchased are never read), that consumers “have an emotional and visceral/sensory attachment to printed books, potentially elevating them to a luxury item,” and that “college students prefer printed textbooks to eBooks as they help students to concentrate on the subject matter at hand” because, y’know, you can’t study using a tablet that has an internet connection that could allow them instant access to more – and focused – information about what they’re studying.
From the article:
“More than 500 years after the invention of the printing press, book manufacturers and publishers are playing a pivotal role in the next renaissance in books that is happening now,” said George Promis, vice president of continuous forms production solutions & technology alliances, Ricoh. “To borrow a phrase from Mark Twain, reports of the printed book’s death are greatly exaggerated. Print is alive, well and sought after in today’s book market. At Ricoh, we’re focused on ensuring this stays true for years to come.”
If there was ever a more slanted, less accurate “study” conducted … oh, hell, it’ll probably ALSO come out of the publishing industry.
The take away, for me is this: the publishing industry is running scared. Rather than embracing new technology and working to bring new authors and technology to the consumer, the industry is circling the wagons and claiming that nobody wants eBooks. It’s absolutely idiotic.
Just some food for thought:
- With bookstores closing their doors forever daily, the number of physical books sold has increased by tenths of percentage points since 2007.
- Book publishing continues to exist on razor-thin margins (authors average 14.7% in royalties, and books have about a 1% chance of being stocked in a bookstore).
- eBook sales continue to be brisk – as do the sales of tablets, with increases year over year. eBook sales increased 43% in 2012 (legacy publishers – the kind Ricoh caters to – claims this number indicates that ebooks sales are plummeting or at least leveling off)
- eBook authors enjoy royalties of 70%, and ebooks are stocked forever.
When you read “studies” like the one Ricoh commissioned, don’t get disheartened; look where the report is coming from!
You can read the whole article HERE.
You can read the study itself in PDF format HERE.