We devote acres of blogspace to e-books but do we really know what we’re talking about? A three-installment Book Industry Study Group survey will help us at last to speak knowledgeably.

In the first installment, the majority of the 556 who responded to the survey gave affordability as the principal reason for buying an e-book vs. the same book in print format. They also held shareability as an important factor. Searchability and environmental friendliness were secondary in their value system. They (especially males) were not big fans of e-books with Digital Rights Management (DRM), restrictive controls over content and devices. Yet their second favorite device for reading an e-book, after computers, was the Kindle, a closed DRM system.

One of the most intriguing findings is 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.” Though this contingent does not constitute a majority, it is substantial enough to reinforce the recently instituted policies by some publishers of holding back “e-prints” of their hardcover books in order to give the print editions some room to find their audience, maximize sales and have a shot at going on the bestseller list. At this point in time e-book sales do not count with those who make up key bestseller lists such as the New York Times’s and Publishers Weekly’s.

For more information and details of how the survey was conducted, click here.

Two more installments to come.

Richard Curtis