Publishing Technology plc, a UK-based provider of software and services to the publishing industry, has released a new research at BML's annual Books & Consumers Conference. A third of UK trade publishers surveyed predict that over 10 percent of their total book revenue will come from e-books by 2012.
This research project, conducted by BML, surveyed hand-picked senior executives at top publishers to be representative of the industry in the UK. It showed that one in four UK academic publishers were already seeing 10 percent of their total book revenue coming from e-books in 2011, with double that predicting this would be the case in 2012.
This research into e-publishing follows on from a research project in 2001, also conducted on behalf of Publishing Technology (then VISTA), and so provides a useful comparison on the pace of change in publishing and sets markers against which further trend analysis can be undertaken.
The research also showed that 66 percent of all publishers surveyed thought e-books were not displacing sales in other formats, but could actually lead to an expansion of the overall market, up from 44 percent ten years ago.
The report notes that publishers are optimistic about retaining their place in a digital world, with only 14 percent thinking e-books will take book publishing out of the control of conventional publishers. This was, however, an increase on 10 years ago when nobody felt that the role of publishers was threatened by the move to digital. Eighty one percent think that the majority of new books they publish will be available in both e and p format by 2016.
Backlists have been digitised faster than the original predictions 10 years ago, with 53 percent stating that over 10 percent of their backlists are already available as e-books and the pace set to accelerate very quickly with 71 percent saying that over half of their backlists would be available as e-books by 2016, says the report.
In the original survey, nearly half (46%) of publishers predicted that over 10 percent of their revenue would come from e-books by 2006. In 2011 only 10 percent say that this is the case.
The 2011 research project (Publishing 2001: attitudes to technological change) involved interviews with a select group of senior publishers from a number of trade, academic/professional, schools and journal publishers, both in the UK and the US. The UK publishers who were involved in the 2001 research project were invited to contribute to the survey this time round, as well as some new individuals, to take the place of those publishers from the original survey who are no longer operating. The results will also provide valuable context for BML's comprehensive research study Understanding the Digital Consumer now taking place.
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