Assembled here in one place are links to 13 great resources for eBook research.
New reports are constantly being released but these are the key players tracking and reporting everything from eBook prices and sales, to technology adoption, to attitudes about reading and media.
Did I miss one? Please drop it in the comments. A few points about this list:
Intended for: publishers and authors, but also organizations such as business, universities, associations and non-profit institutions.
Format focus: Note that organizations often refer to PDF files as eBooks but we define eBooks as those using the file format of EPUB and Kindle (MOBI, PRC, AZW).
Follow the Source: Reports tend to go out of date so sign-up for a firm’s mailing list or set a Google Alert. We’ll also keep this list up-to-date as we learn about new reports and sources.
eBook Research from Research Oriented Firms (alpha order)
AAP-American Assocation of Publishers
An industry trade group. Basic research findings are published as a release but you’ll have to join or pay to get full access.
Recent Research: 2013 Industry Export Sales Report
Bowker
Bowker, a unit of ProQuest and the business that administers ISBN numbers for the U.S. market also publishes a number of research reports. These are paid reports but summaries are reported by the media. Look up the report and then do a search on the title (example here from Infodocket.com).
Begin here: http://www.bookconsumer.com/
Forrester
Global research firm that publishes paid reports with free overview information.
Recent Research:
Forrester Research eReader And eBook Adoption Forecast, 2012 To 2017 (Global)
(Read this post about the report)
Nielsen
Insights about media consumption, consumer insights and device adoption.
Relevant Research:
U.S. Consumer Entertainment Report
Smartphones Account for Half of all Mobile Phones, Dominate New Phone Purchases in the US
Pew Internet
Pew is perhaps the most prolific publisher of free market research information you can find. Reports cover several facets of the market: reading, device adoption, attitudes, libraries and use of technology in general. Begin at the main page and explore their variety of reports.
Begin here: http://www.pewinternet.org/
PwC (PriceWaterhouse Consulting)
Global research firm that publishes paid reports with free overview information.
Recent Research: Global Entertainment and Media Outlook, 2013-2017
Simba Information
Simba publishes market intelligence for the media and publishing industries. The reports must be purchased by summaries often contain useful information.
Recent Report: Trade E-Book Publishing 2012
University of Arizona
U of A’s School of Information Resources and Library Science sponsors The Research Group on Non-Traditional Publishing Practices. They exists to study the changing publishing environment, specifically self-publishing.
Begin here: http://sirls.arizona.edu/ntp
Also see: Self-Publishing Insights from University of Arizona Research, a 2012 post on Sellbox.
Noteworthy eBook Research Shared by Industry Participants
Aptara
Aptara is a consulting and outsourced services provider that has published four annual surveys about the publishing market. The reports are free.
Recent Research:
Revealing the Business of eBooks: Fourth Annual eBook Survey of Publishers (2013)
Infographic (2012, posted courtesy of Teleread)
Third Annual Survey Post on Sellbox
Content Marketing Institute & MarketingProfs
Jointly publish a study on B2B content marketing in which eBooks play an important role. The link below is for the 2012 report which is highlighted and linked to in this blog post. You may also wish to subscribe to the Slideshare channel.
Recent Research: 2012 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends
Goodreads
Goodreads is the largest social network devoted to reading (now owned by Amazon.com) which puts it in a good position to aggregate and report important research about reading. Monitor or subscribe to the blog and/or the company’s Slideshare channel.
Recent Research: What’s Going On with Readers Today? Goodreads Finds Out: blog, Slideshare
Iobyte eBook MarketView
eBook MarketView from Iobyte is a subscription service that provides retail price, rank and other data for several eBook retailers including Amazon, Apple, BN, Google, Kobo and Sony. They share current pricing data in a sample report format. Learn more here:
Sample reports
Visit Iobyte.com
Smashwords
The Smashwords store and aggregator distribution services are popular with self-published authors. This puts them in a unique position to capture important information about the market and founder Mark Coker is generous in sharing it. Monitor or subscribe to the blog and/or the company’s Slideshare channel.
Recent Research: New Smashwords Survey Helps Authors Sell More eBooks: blog, Slideshare
Please leave a note below if we missed your favorite eBook research resource.
photo credit: Haags Uitburo via photopin cc