Study finds 20% of US readers have switched to e-books

The Book Industry Study Group released a report January 15 detailing statistics about US e-book readers. Among findings, the group reports that about 20 percent of readers in the US stopped purchasing physical books in the last 12 months, instead switching over to electronic editions.

The Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading survey found that the majority of print book buyers rank "affordability" as the top reason they buy a title in its digital form. Searchability and environmental friendliness were ranked lower.

Other findings:

- Survey respondents prefer the following devices to read their e-books: computers (47%), Kindle (32%), other e-reader devices (about 10% each)

- 28% said they would "definitely" purchase an e-book with Digital Rights Management (DRM), which prohibits readers from sharing e-books across devices.

- 81% of survey respondents say they currently purchase an e-book only "rarely" or "occasionally."

www.bisg.org