New Simba Information Report Finds 57% of Adults Read Paperbacks in 2012; 22% Read An E-Book

STAMFORD, Conn. - June 24, 2013 - PRLog -- Simba Information, publisher of Trade E-Book Publishing 2013, The iPad and Its Owner 2013 and other research specializing in media and technology, has released the newest edition of Business of Consumer Book Publishing 2013, which contains new, multi-year data on e-book pricing trends—of particular interest today given the significance of Apple, the ‘agency model’ and the price-fixing lawsuit.  

The report also estimates about 57% of adults read at least one paperback in 2012 and 22% read an e-book, which represents an increase of 3% and 5%, respectively, over the 2011 findings.

“When you look at multi-year trend data, you’ll see that paperback book use hasn’t fallen consistently and e-book use hasn’t risen consistently,” said Michael Norris, senior analyst of Simba Information’s Consumer Media & Technology division, commenting on the findings. “Not only that, but more than five years after the Kindle was first released and numerous competitors like the Nook and iPad followed, the vast majority of a legacy publisher’s revenue is still print. We believed early on that the print book and the e-book would live in an environment side by side, and the data in Business of Consumer Book Publishing 2013 backs up our initial assertions.”

The report also noted that in 2012, the activity of giving a print book as a gift—a vital but little covered business engine of the consumer book business—actually increased in 2012 for the first time in years.

“We had heard from a number of independent bookstores who said a lot of people bought the paperback edition of the 50 Shades of Gray series and asked for them to be gift wrapped,” Norris said. “The extent these consumers were hiding that they were buying the books for themselves is a question we can’t answer, but there are hard numbers indicating that books as gifts ticked up [in 2012], which is a rare and welcome sign.”

Business of Consumer Book Publishing 2013 contains over 270 pages and 266 pages and more than 160 charts and graphs. In addition to the analysis of e-book price trends, the report also has multi-year pricing data on print fiction and nonfiction titles and psychographic data on consumers and price sensitivity.  The report also features format trends of bestselling titles for over a dozen key consumer categories (including Biographies, Cookbooks, Romance, Business, Mystery, Self-Help and Graphic Novels) over a five-year period.  The report also projects how these and other categories will perform in the future, what extent each will have a presence in e-book or other digital form, and which ones are facing the most challenges.

The report also has a comprehensive ranking of bestselling authors in several key categories, historical demographic data showing the population groups publishers and booksellers must focus on in order to stay competitive, demographic data of buyers based on gender, age, household income, education level and more.

Additional information on the report can be found www.simbainformation.com.  

About Simba Information

Simba Information is widely recognized as the leading authority for market intelligence in the media and publishing industry. Simba's extensive information network delivers top quality, independent perspective on the people, events and alliances shaping the media and information industry. Simba publishes newsletters and research reports that provide key decision-makers at more than 15,000 client companies around the globe with timely news, analysis, exclusive statistics and proprietary industry forecasts. For more information, please visit www.simbainformation.com.