E-books have gotten plenty of press over the last few
years, but new research doesn’t back up the headlines. A study on IT strategies
by Ricoh Americas Corp. and the University of Colorado found that 70% of consumers felt it was unlikely they would give up their
printed books by 2016 and 60% of downloaded e-books are never read.
The Evolution of the Book Industry: Implications for U.S.
Book Manufacturers and Printers reported that the top three reasons people chose
printed books were the lack of eyestrain when reading paper, the look and feel
of paper, and the ability to add the title to a library or bookshelf. It also
reaffirmed other studies that have shown college students prefer printed
textbooks.
“To borrow a phrase from Mark Twain, the reports of the
printed book’s death are greatly exaggerated,” said George Promis, vice
president of continuous forms of production solutions and technology alliances
at Ricoh. “Print is alive, well, and sought after in today’s book market.”
The research also found that publishers produced more
than 10% of all printed book pages in the United States since 2012 on
production inkjet systems, allowing them to test titles before ordering larger
runs. In addition, offering e-titles isn’t a guarantee of more income or cost
savings because even the largest publishers reported revenues of no more than
20%-30% from e-book sales.