Publishing professionals, faced with tight budgets and increasing competition, are looking to create additional revenue streams by providing digital “eBook” versions of their print titles. They are hoping that eBooks can help them attract and maintain new paying customers without cannibalizing existing print sales.

But the road to eBook success isn’t well traveled; eBooks are relatively new publishing products, potential eBook distribution channels are not fully understood by publishers, and there’s not much historical data with which to make eBook business decisions or projections—except the constant reminder that eBooks sales growth continues to be in the triple digits.* To be successful, publishers will need to better understand the digital publishing landscape.

That’s why we sought answers from more than 300 publishing industry insiders, across the Trade, Professional, and Educational markets, to find out what their plans for eBook publishing are and whether they think eBooks are important to their overarching business strategy (and future growth), and if so, how many eBooks they publish today, where they distribute them, and what display devices they support.

What did we learn? Some of the most insightful takeaways include:

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With the sales of eBooks skyrocketing and production costs decreasing, why aren’t more publishers profiting from eBooks? We hope that this survey, and the analysis that follows, can help publishers to better navigate and exploit this promising new digital marketplace.

This survey is the first in a series of eBook-related research papers designed to keep you abreast of this fast-changing publishing sector and to identify trends, challenges, and strategies of importance to publishing professionals. To be included in future surveys, contact us at aptaracorp.com.