The new report is published by BookNet Canada.
From a Summary/News Release:
Canadian publishers’ digital publishing programs continue to progress, according to a report released today by BookNet Canada.
The State of Digital Publishing in Canada 2014 lays out the results of a survey conducted by BookNet Canada in early 2015. Over 70 respondents, representing small, mid-sized, and large publishers and distributors, reported on various aspects of their digital publishing programs, including staffing, ebook production & conversion, digital originals, enhanced ebooks & apps, ebook bundling, and ebook sales & distribution. Their responses were then compared to the results of the 2013 fielding of the same survey.
The percentage of publishers producing ebooks in 2014 increased slightly to 93% (vs 89% in 2013).
Of those producing ebooks, close to half have digitized more than 50% of their active titles, and almost a quarter have converted over 75% of their backlist titles. The majority of publishers (65%) choose to publish print and ebook formats of a title simultaneously, while 29% delay the ebook edition until after the print version is available. When asked for the main reasons to publish ebooks, the most popular response was to increase sales (77%), followed closely by to meet customer demand (63%). Only 5% cited “as a mechanism to lower costs” as a reason to produce ebooks–a noticeable drop from 15% in 2013. The development of enhanced ebooks and apps remained fairly steady from 2013 to 2014, whereas more publishers are publishing digital originals: from 27% in 2013 to 35% in 2014.
The main sales channel was ebook retailers (95%), followed by direct (66%) and wholesale (43%). Ebook retailers also generated the most revenue for 69% of respondents, while only 12% reported receiving the most revenue through their direct sales channel. The percentage of publishers offering direct sales is up significantly, however–from 42% in 2013 to 66% in 2014. The majority of publishers (69%) report that ebook sales make up 1-10% of their revenue, while 17% of publishers derive 11-20% of their revenue from ebook sales. As for libraries, the majority of publishers surveyed (75%) sell ebooks to libraries, up from 61% in 2013.
Libraries and Ebooks
Pages 33-34 provide data (three charts) about:
- Library Ebook Sales
- Pricing for Libraries
- Library Distribution
From the Libraries and Ebooks Section:
- Three-quarters of publishers sell ebooks to libraries (up from 61% in 2013).
- Almost half of publishers (49%) are selling to libraries at the same price as retail, with an additional 25% of publishers selling for a form of multiple pricing.
- OverDrive continues to be the most popular ebook vendor with 82% of publishers, however 3M made a significant jump in 2014, going from only 8% of publishers in 2013 to 35%.
Direct to Full Text Report (36 pages; PDF)
Loaded with data and charts.
Source: BookNet Canada
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