April 08, 2004

By: Mary Rodgers
Website: http://www.1st-in-ebooks.com

Open eBook Forum announces eBook Industry Statistics Program

At Book Expo America today, the Open eBook Forum announced an industry-wide program to collect and publish eBook and eDocument sales and publishing statistics on a quarterly basis. Registration for publishers and retailers who would like to participate in the program is now open on the Open eBook Forum website at: http://www.openebook.org/statsregistration.asp

The program and the survey methodology were developed by the OeBF eBook Industry Special Interest Group with active involvement and support from publishers such as Random House, Inc., Simon & Schuster, St. Martin´s Press, HarperCollins Publishers and AOL Time Warner Book Group; technology companies including Palm Digital Media, Gemstar-TV Guide International, Microsoft Corporation and Adobe Systems Inc.; and electronic retailers and distributors like OverDrive, eBooks Corporation and Fictionwise.com. Comments on the program were also solicited from non-OeBF companies in the publishing and retail sectors.

We believe that growth is more accurately measured when a true and verifiable reflection of market activity is in place. The OeBF survey as it is currently defined will provide the basis of a more accurate data collection instrument, said Micheal Segroves, Director of Business Development at Palm Digital Media.

A comprehensive methodology including data points to be collected can be found on the Open eBook Forum website at: http://www.openebook.org/statsregistration.asp

Random House is looking forward to participating in the statistics program, said Amanda Kimmel, Director, New Media, Random House, Inc. The OeBF is the right place to make this effort. It will be a terrific resource for the electronic publishing industry.

Any retailer or publisher who meets minimum eligibility requirements is welcome to participate in the program. We made every effort in setting up this program to open the doors to the entire universe of eBook and eDocument retailers and publishers who want to contribute, said Nick Bogaty, Executive Director of the OeBF. The more companies participate, the better.

The statistics program will be immensely beneficial to the eBook and ePublishing industries, continued Bogaty. The press, public, OeBF members and contributing companies will finally have genuinely valid industry statistics.

Registrations to contribute statistics to the initial report will be reviewed by Harold Henke Ph.D., an independent consultant at Chartula, Inc. Registration will end on June 29th, 2003.

The collection of statistics for Q2 2003, Q1 2003 and the entire 2002 will begin on June 29, 2003 and last for two weeks ending July 14, 2003.

Chartula, Inc. will also compile and analyze the submitted statistics for two reports. One for public consumption and another more detailed report for OeBF members and companies who participate in the program. Statistics will be reported in the aggregate and will not be tracked to individual companies. For more detail, see the survey methodology at: http://www.openebook.org/statsregistration.asp

Also See: free ebook publishing.

About The Author:

Mary Rodgers is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.1st-in-ebooks.com.  A source of information on creating, writing and publishing an e-book.