Bitches Smart Women Read eBooks

1. BitchesSmart Women Read eBooks • Kassia Krozser – Booksquare.com • Angela James – Samhain Publishing • Malle Vallik – Harlequin Enterprises • Sarah Wendell – Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

2. Survey Results • 60% of our readers are between the ages of 30 and 50.

3. Survey Results • Most of our readers buy and read 2 – 5 books per month.

4. Survey Results • 60% of the women surveyed read ebooks on their laptops and 35% read on desktop computers.

5. Survey Results • Our readers indicated that they move between devices as circumstances warrant (line at post office, soccer practice, commuting).

6. Survey Results • Palms/PDAs, Blackberry, iPhone, iPod Touch are popular portable choices.

7. Survey Results • 13% of our survey group are Kindle users. 17% are Sony Reader owners.

8. What Readers Said • “I have hacked my Nintendo DS Lite to be a text reader, with some "homebrew" software and an old media player I got on eBay. Shhh, don't tell Nintendo! I used to use my Palm-based PDA, but it died and I didn't replace it.”

9. What Readers Said • “I have e-books on my Palm too but that is just an emergency back-up; I do 99% of my e-book reading on my Kindle.”

10. What Readers Said • “ebookwise, although now that they have added a backlight to the sony i may buy one.”

11. Survey Results • Most of the readers surveyed purchase books directly from the publisher website.

12. Survey Results • Fictionwise is the second most popular choice of ebook retailer.

13. What Readers Said • “In the past it's almost exclusively been Powells, once Amazon quit selling them for other than its own reader. Now that I've discovered Fictionwise, though, that will be changing.”

14. What Readers Said • “I also check them out from my library through Overdrive Media.”

15. What Readers Said • “I prefer the Indies.”

16. What Readers Said • “I look for well-formatted ebooks at a reasonable price. I shop multiple sites to acquire the best content!”

17. What Readers Said • “I get a lot of my e-books free from the Manybooks.net website of Gutenberg Project e-books and from things like the Baen Free Library and the Tor e-book giveaway. I often buy books from Baen and sometimes from Fictionwise, but Amazon is my most frequent source of "paid for" e-books.”

18. What Readers Said • “I buy most from eHarlequin.”

19. What Readers Said • “I also use booksonboard.com quite frequently.”

20. What Readers Said • “Also online retailers like booksonboard. It depends on where the book I'm looking for is available. I've had some difficulties buying ebooks here in the U.K., where the ebook is available to those in the US/Canada. Which makes NO sense to me.”

21. What Readers Said • “Most of the time I buy from Fictionwise, however they don't always have the books right after they're available on the publisher's website, so then I buy from the publisher. It's easier to find books by category on one site than search through various publisher's pages, at least until I'm familiar with the company and know its typical products.”

22. What Readers Said • “I've bought ebooks from Powells and Mobipocket.com as well (I read books in both the Mobipocket and ereader formats.).”

23. What Readers Said • “Specialist epublisher e.g. Samhain - direct from their site. Other publishers eg Penguin, Orbit etc, I shop around at various sellers including Fictionwise and Books on Board to find the cheapest price. I never buy ebooks from Amazon as I do not own a Kindle and Amazon UK neither sell Kindle or other formats.”

24. What Readers Said • “I won't buy anything with DRM on it. Way too much hassle. I've used Books on Board in the past when I was giving DRM a whirl. It took their customer service team over a week to sort out my problem. 3 months later all my drm'd books stopped working. Argh that was the end of me purchasing anything with DRM on it.”

25. What Readers Said • “My shiny new Kindle is actually in the mail on its way to me, so I have up until now mostly read ebooks on my laptop and purchased them through the publisher or their designated ebook distributor. I anticipate purchasing many books through Amazon once the Kindle arrives, though.”

26. What Readers Said • “Publisher website for Harlequin/M&B, WH Smith, sometimes the Sony bookstore. Fictionwise for my Palm books.”

27. What Readers Said • “Books on Board primarily, but I end up shopping several different sites for NYT Bestsellers that are not released there in my preferred format as early as other site. Therefore, I end up with my library spread across 6-7 sites.”

28. What Readers Said • “I buy from publisher websites too, because not every ebook is available in a digital bookstore like Fictionwise or books on board, or they become available much later than on the publishers side. This is a big drawback as far as I am concerned because I would love the convenience of buying from one source.”

29. What Readers Said • “Most eBookstores are priced *higher* than the comparable print book, so I generally go to the place with the lowest prices. I'd much prefer to buy the print copy and receive a code for the eBook version also, though - similar to the way digital copies of movies are being offered now.”

30. What Readers Said • “I prefer buying DRM free ebooks.”

31. What Readers Said • “Think outside the box of what you think people like. E gives great opportunity to visit some story formats and deliveries that weren't feasible with print. E is not just print on a screen--it can be so much more. It's an exciting time to try new things, and readers are watching.”

32. What Readers Said • “I generally get them wherever they're cheapest.”

33. What Readers Said • “50/50 between Sony and Harlequin.”

34. What Readers Said • “Almost exclusively from Baen.”

35. What Readers Said • “I will purchase ebooks that are not in a SECURE Format, that away I can convert it to TEXT Format so I can read it on my Sony Reader.”

36. What Readers Said • “Books on Board. It would be nice when a new release is out it is also availble as an ebook. The sales should count for the author. I am finding that my local bookstore B&N does not put all the books out on release day. This is very frustrating.”

37. What Readers Said • “I'll buy a Kindle when they come below • 150 bucks.”

38. What Readers Said • “Print them out and read them.”

39. What Readers Said • “I wish I had a dedicated ereader (not easy to get in Russia, and too expensive). A laptop is definitely not ideal and my phone is too small for more than 20 minutes or so.”

40. What Readers Said • “Nintendo DS, Sony Clie PDA, have used Palm Pilot in the past.”

41. What Readers Said • “Before the iPhone, I often printed them out to read in bed.”

42. What Readers Said • “I use the Cybook and an eBookwise. I'll admit, I seldom use the Cybook, and I've lent one of my co-workers my eBookwise...”

43. What Readers Said • “iPod Touch plus Stanza.”

44. What Readers Said • “I have an eBookwise, but most of my reading lately is on an Eee PC. So, netbook, which is sort of Laptop only not. I've got a laptop and I don't read on it, but I read on the netbook ALL the time.”

45. What Readers Said • “I use my iPAQ PDA only because I'm waiting for better selections in eReader devices.”

46. What Readers Said • “Well, technically, it's an XO (the OLPC laptop). I've got most of my e-books in a format that it reads, and the size, display, and weight are perfect.”

47. Survey Results • Women read across all genres, with romance and erotic fiction leading the pack. Mystery/Suspense and Science Fiction/Fantasy are the next largest categories.

48. Survey Results • Non-Fiction is least read among our survey participants – mostly because the content wasn’t there.

49. What Readers Said • Wanted: Early Readers and Chapter books for children under 12

50. What Readers Said • “I'd love to read older mysteries (e.g. Charlotte Macleod) and more British authors.”