Published: August 18, 2009

BISG members invited to learn more at a kick-off Research Committee meeting in NYC on Tuesday, August 25th from 1pm-3pm

Although much of the publishing industry is working hard to develop and implement digital strategies, there is little available research that evaluates book consumers' actual interest in and preferences for digital content, or the factors that influence their reading habits and purchasing decisions.

To help fill this void, during a Research Committee meeting to be held in NYC on Tuesday, August 25, 2009 from 1:00pm-3:00pm EDT BISG will launch a new initiative aimed directly at surveying today's digital book consumer.

Tentatively titled Consumer Attitudes Toward Digital Publishing, the new research initiative will survey consumer attitudes toward and buying habits of digital content with the goal of providing practical guidance for companies attempting to refine their digital strategies to reach a target market. The initiative will be led by BISG member Debbie Stier, SVP, Associate Publisher for HarperStudio and Director of Digital Marketing for HarperCollins.

All BISG members are invited to join this meeting in person or via conference call. Email Angela Bole to RSVP.

More than a static publication, the intention is to publish the information that results from this initiative as a dynamic digital research report in 4 installments over a 12-month period. To varying degrees depending on purchase level, features of the research study will include:

• Online tools to modify and sort data -- access to a web-based tool set to directly access the raw data used to create the reports – drillable, sortable and accessible when you want it, how you want it.


• Hyperlinked Content Sources -- access to links referencing additional content, footnotes and citations.


• Multiple Data Points -- in order to track changing trends, the consumer survey will be conducted 3 times over a 12 month period, each time resulting in new drillable data and a fresh Report, all culminating in a final, comprehensive year-end publication.

Again, to learn more about contributing to this Research Committee initiative, BISG members are encouraged to contact Angela Bole at angela@bisg.org or 646-336-7141.

Sponsorship packages also available at several levels.

Contact Angela Bole for details.