eBooks Uncovering their Impact on the Publishing Market

Publishing professionals, faced with tight budgets and increasing competition, are looking
to create additional revenue streams by providing digital “eBook” versions of their print
titles. They are hoping that eBooks can help them attract and maintain new paying
customers without cannibalizing existing print sales.
But the road to eBook success isn’t well traveled; eBooks are relatively new publishing
products, potential eBook distribution channels are not fully understood by publishers, and
there’s not much historical data with which to make eBook business decisions or
projections—except the constant reminder that eBooks sales growth continues to be in the
triple digits*, which will be further fueled by Apple’s recent unveiling of the iPad. To be
successful, publishers will need to better understand the digital publishing landscape.
That’s why we sought answers from more than 300 publishing industry insiders, across
the Trade, Professional, and Educational markets, to find out what their plans for eBook
publishing are and whether they think eBooks are important to their overarching business
strategy (and future growth), and if so, how many eBooks they publish today, where they
distribute them, and what display devices they support.