TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Web survey for Random House: Four percent own e-readers and three percent plan to buy ‘em—plus other info

By David Rothman

How popular are dedicated e-readers—like the Kindle and Sony Reader—right now?

Not very, it would seem, although there could be some good, healthy growth in relative terms  Four percent of 8,218 respondents in a Random House-sponsored Web survey (PDF alert) own an e-reader already, and three percent plan to buy one—just seven percent total.

Could mobile phones and mini laptops be where the real action is for now in e-bookdom, despite all the excitement over the Kindle? Hard to say from the survey of U.S. readers. Remember, e-books are just a speck of the market anyway, and within this speck, the seven percent could be significant.

Book-browsing popular: Good news for online bookstores and search engines

The same survey—titled The Reading the Book Buying Habits of Americans and done for Random House by Zogby International, a prominent polling firm—reveals:

• Sixty-two percent browse online for books without knowing what they were looking for—which is good news for stores and search engines, which can be great for focused browsing based on keywords. Just five percent belong to an online book group. Thirty-one percent depend on online reviews for recommendations. Leading drivers of book purchases are suggestions from family and friends (60 percent), book reviews (49 percent) and talk radio (22 percent). Would you believe, Oprah was a mere five percent, far behind advertising (15 percent) and public radio (15 percent).
• Just fifteen percent have purchased e-books. And remember, that’s an online survey. The good news is that there could be substantial upside if the e-book industry makes e-reading a pleasant experience worth repeating. Down with DRM and eBabel!
• Fifty-percent generally buy fewer than 10 books a year for themselves. But people also buy books for friends and family.
• Fifty-seven percent keep the books they buy, 20 percent pass ‘em on to friends or family, 14 percent give them away, three percent sell them, five percent specify "Other," and one percent think "Not sure." Yet more ammo against DRM and eBabel, which are threats to long-term ownership of books, amid frequent upheavals in technology!

Online spending stats

So how much are people spending online each month?

Less than $5 - 20 percent
$5.00-$10.00 - 18
$11.00-$20.00 - 22
$21-$30.00 - 17
$31.00-$40.00 - 8
$41.00-$50.00 - 7
$51.00-$60.00 - 4
More than $60.00 - 6

Amazon as expected—the online leader

Yes, Amazon is where the big action is online, all the more reason to pay attention to its bullying tactics. Sixty-six percent frequent the site compared to just ten percent hanging around Barnes & Noble.

Offline, as I would expect, the champ is Barnes & Noble, at 47 percent. Can B&N convert them into .com business through e-books and otherwise?

Formats—E and P

How about  most frequently bought formats? Here are the stats:

Hardcover - 43 percent
Mass market Paperback - 26
Trade Paperback - 22
Audio Book - 2
e-book —
Other - 2
Not sure - 5

Oh, how understandable the poor showing of E is! I myself my a lot more p-books than paper books, thanks to the DRM and eBabel problems and the fact that most books are not in digital format yet.

Printing out vs. screen-reading

The survey also addressed the issue of printing out e-books vs. reading them on the screen:

I read them electronically - 22 percent
I print them to read - 17
Not sure - 61

Not sure about such a basic matter? Baffling. Let’s hope that wouldn’t detract from the value of the rest of the survey. I don’t think so, but judge for yourself. The other things to keep in mind is that online surveys are not necessarily representative of Americans as a whole, regardless of efforts to compensate for this.

Image credit: CC-licensed photo from jblyberg. I’ve lightened it up to make the details more visible.

(Zogby poll found via MediaBistro.)