US e-book sales double as dead tree demand dips
Fiction Kindled
The US is experience a boom in demand for e-books. Sales were up almost 116 per cent during January when compared to the same month in 2010, hitting $69.9m.
This despite a 1.9 per cent drop in overall book sales, the Association of American Publishers reported yesterday.
Sales of hardbacks and paperbacks for grown-ups were both down, 11.3 per cent and 19.7 per cent, respectively. Kids' books were down too: 1.9 per cent for hardbacks, 17.7 per cent for softcovers.
Both professional-oriented and religious book sales were up.
Overall the US book sales totalled $805.7m in January, down from $821.5m in January 2010. That gives e-books an 8.7 per cent share of the US book market, up from 3.9 per cent a year ago.
In January, Amazon claimed e-book sales had surpassed paperback purchases, just about. ®
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COMMENTS
e-Books
I read 2-3 novels a week and I have yet to see an argument for buying an eBook that could persuade me to take the plunge.
The eBooks cost $$$$$, the books themselves usually cost more than the books, (or slightly less than the Hardback) and I don't find the reading experience on any of the eBooks (yes, Kindle included) to be worth the effort.
Chances are the energy used to make a Kindle is higher than the 150 books per year that I read, given that most will be read and re-read and many will stay in my library (carbon sequestering anybody? <LOL>).
So, other than the latest "must have" or "keep up with the Jones" gadget, what's the point.
I'm open minded and love to try new gadgets but this seems like a waste of money.
As always, IMHO. ;-)
Paper books down; e-books up;e -book prices sky high!
The introduction of the 'agency' contract with book stores where they get stock 'on consignment' and it remains the property of and controlled by publishers us bad for everyone.
Equally bad is the 'price fixing' evidenced by narrow price band between publishers,
Limiting libraries to a small number of loans AND killing 'old book sales' is really crippling them. Thank you Murdoch.
Second hand ebooks anybody?
There's a type of book sales that accounts for a big chunk of the market, but doesn't get mentioned in these reports. Second hand books are just as popular as they always were, but don't get mentioned in reports like this because they don't make any money for the people writing the reports.
Then of course there are other ways for books to circulate. Lending libraries are one, people passing on their books to friends after reading them are another. Again these don't get mentioned because publishers and retailers make little or nothing from them. Does your local library offer ebooks? No. Can you pass on an ebook to a friend? Not without being labled a pirate you can't.
The argument about ebook pricing when compared to that of paper books will run and run, but it's insignificant when compared to the fact that ebooks have the potential to reduce the amount of reading done,
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