The Dawning of Digital Reading

For a while now we, at Creative Strategies, have been involved in projects within the digital reader ecosystem.  We have been talking and working with both publishers and hardware OEM’s who either have a presence or want a presence in this market.

Regardless of where we are now in the adoption cycle of e-readers one thing is now clear; The shift from analog to digital in books is happening rapidly.  

Although we acknowledge that the E-reader market is early we also acknowledge that it is loaded with potential.  

The publishing industry has struggled in this decade with relatively flat CAGR (Compound Annual Growth) and a projected CAGR of 2.1% according to the Book Industry Study Group.  The question is will the move to digital change not only the publishing industry but also the overall habits of readers?

I began doing some research on US reading statistics and found some numbers that are very interesting.   According to statistics published by ParaPub:

•          Generally 80% of US households did not buy or read a book last year.

•         70 % of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the past 5 years

•         42 % of college graduates never read another book after college

•         1/3 of high school graduates never read a book the rest of their lives

•         57 % of new books are not read to completion

I look at these statistics and what stands out to me is why?  Considering that nearly 100% of all American adults can read.   It may be debated about what school level of reading the majority is capable of but regardless nearly all American adults can read at some level.   So the question is why are they not reading? 

Very good observations to this question could be, not enough time to sit down and read, or that TV and the Internet media is more interesting, entertaining and captivating than reading a book.    These are all good observations and answers to an intriguing question about why so few American adults take the time to sit down and get engrossed in a book.

The question I have however is:  Does the move from analog reading to digital reading have the potential to change this?

I believe the answer is yes, IF….

I have observed some things not only with my own Kindle experience but of others I have informally surveyed as well.    Things like you find yourself reading more often then you did before, you find yourself buying more books more often because you get them instantly and wirelessly.   Using a Kindle is actually easier to use to read due to the ability to find one comfortable position and press a button to flip the page.   It is popular among an older demographic due to the ability to make the text bigger.  People with arthritis find it more comfortable and easy to hold for long periods of time.   I personally find myself actually reading newspapers like the NY Times and Wall Street Journal something I would never get a physical paper for and have yet to subscribe online to. 

Now granted that Kindle owners are already heavy readers it is not surprising that there is a high customer satisfaction rating amongst those who own them.   It is also not surprising that Kindle books are contributing growing revenues for publishers.   When the iPhone App Store first came out those first developers struck “App gold” because iPhone owners were hungry for more content and had the money to spend on it.   Similarly Kindle owners are hungry for content and have the money to spend on it.   The real question is what drives this experience to the mainstream.

Back to my question on does the shift to digital have the potential to change American reading habits.    The reason I say IF, is because what fundamentally exists is the opportunity to create an entirely new type of book / reading experience.   We believe the potential exists to create what we in concept are calling a “Multimedia book.”

What if we could blend animation, video, still picture art, audio, music and text together to create an experience that leverages the compelling value of each or all of those media types?

Imagine a multimedia comic book where the images and text were static until you clicked on each frame to see some of the story play out.   Each frame of the comic would tell a part of the story by blending different forms of media to take the reader through a more interactive and immersive experience then was ever possible in the print world.  Marvel actually announced something similar to this to be sold through iTunes.

Or a children’s book where a child could enjoy the art of the still pictures and read the text which was followed by a video / animation transition to the next part of the story. 

Text books can become more interesting when you can blend video both historic and real time to help the content become more alive or relevant than with static words and images. 

What happens is what ultimately always happens when things move from analog to digital.   An experience that was once static and could only be experienced one way now becomes dynamic and can be experienced in many ways (I.E Tivo, MP3’s, Digital Camera’s).

We believe a whole new world of content creation and consumption becomes possible with the concept of a multimedia book.   Apple with their new iTunes LP’s has taken a similar step with the one time physical lure of a vinyl LP by adding a digital version that blends audio, video and text as lyrics.  

Although we feel this new type of book experience will be just one feature of a larger experience, perhaps with a new category of devices we call Smartpads, or perhaps it extends even farther to everyday PC’s, cell phones and TV’s.   

We fundamentally feel that what we see in the market today is just the beginning of classes of devices that enables consumers to engage and interact with their content and their world in new and exciting ways.