A new survey from the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) reveals how print book buyers access, purchase and use e-books and e-readers.

The first of three BISG surveys to be released this year, the study found that the majority of print book buyers ranked "affordability"as the top reason they would choose to purchase an e-book rather than a print book of the same title.

"The survey found that 30% of print book buyers would wait up to three months to purchase the e-book edition of a book by their favorite author," said BISG Deputy Executive Director Angela Bole. "This kind of information can inform decisions publishers need to make today about when and how to publish e-book editions."

Additional findings included: Roughly one-fifth of respondents said they've stopped purchasing print books within the past 12 months in favor of acquiring the e-book; computers came in first (47%) for the e-reader devices preference, followed by the Kindle (32%) and other e-reader devices at roughly 10% apiece; and 81% of respondents said they currently purchase an e-book "rarely" or "occasionally."

Data for the BISG e-book survey was derived from a panel of more than 850 print book consumers who completed surveys about their purchasing behavior each month as part of PubTrack Consumer, a service of R.R. Bowker.

Click here for more information on the BISG e-book survey.

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