• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Login
  • Register

Publishers Lunch

The Publishing Industry's Daily Essential Read

  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help

Executives Now Doubt that Digital Will Improve Their Corporate Prospects

January 12, 2012
By Michael Cader

Among the multiple presentations of original research at Digital Book World later this month, James McQuivey from Forrester Research will present a new version of the survey they conducted a year ago to assess publishing executives’ expectations on the digital transition.

This year’s results (from publishers said to represent three-quarters of US publishing revenues) show a distinct ebb in digital optimism. In one of the biggest shifts, only 28 percent of publishing executives now think their own companies will be better off because of the transition to digital, versus 51 percent a year ago.

McQuivey’s presentation at DBW will address expectations as to when digital becomes the dominant form in trade publishing. Consistent with last year’s results, indications are that the largest group of executives–29 percent–currently expects that ebooks will comprise half of all book units sold in the US in 2014. Sixteen percent expect that to come in 2014; 22 percent don’t see it happening until 2015 or beyond.

That said, 82 percent are still “optimistic” about the digital transition in general (compared to 89 percent a year ago); 61 percent think readers will be better off (compared to 66 percent a year ago); and now fewer than half–47  percent–expect that readers will read a greater number of books than before (down from 66 percent a year ago). The quick growth of color/tablet reading devices in recent months has at least informally increased the sense that as small screens are used for all kinds of activities, the rapid burst of ereading could ebb.

The full presentation will open DBW on Tuesday, January 24, just prior to the CEO panel featuring John Ingram, Dominique Raccah, John Donatich and Ellen Archer.
Register here
, and use code PUBLUNCH12 to still save $470
Full DBW program

Filed Under: eNews, Free

sidebar

Primary Free Sidebar

Login


Forgot password
Quick Pass users click here to log in
Get Full Access
The publishing industry's essential daily read

Each Publishers Lunch Deluxe subscription includes full access to our searchable multi-year archive of industry news, a nightly email reporting 10 to 50 deal transactions, and our database of industry contacts, scripts, and posting privileges.

Learn More

RSS Automat

  • Cundhill History Prize Shortlist Announced September 28, 2023 Prize site
  • Nobel for Literature to be Announced October 5 September 28, 2023 NYT
  • With Sales Down 30% on Book Bans, Levine Querido Authors Raise Over $100,000 In Auction September 27, 2023 PW
  • Taylor & Francis to Make Voluntary Separation Offer; Threatens Layoffs to Follow September 25, 2023 Bookseller
  • Rupert Murdoch to Retire from News Corp and Fox Boards September 21, 2023 NYT
  • OpenAI's New DALL-E3 Lets Artists Opt-Out of Future Training; Rejects Request to Mimic the Style of Living Artists September 20, 2023 TechCrunch
  • Another Response to AI-Generated Books: KDP Lowers Limit On Number of Titles You Can Create, "To Help Protect Against Abuse" September 18, 2023 KDP Forum
  • TikTok (and Instagram) Stars Sell Cookbooks September 18, 2023 NYT
  • Actor and UK Harry Potter Audiobook Narrator Stephen Fry Demonstrates How His Voice Was Copied By AI Without Permission September 18, 2023 Deadline
  • Neal Sofman, Legend of Bay Area Independent Booksellers, dies at 75 September 15, 2023 SF Chronicle
© 2023 Publishers Lunch. All Rights Reserved.