E-books are more akin to audio books — a compliment to print, not a replacement.
An Association of American Publishers report says sales of e-books rose just 5 percent in the year ending in the first quarter of 2013, a big drop from the year earlier when sales grew 28 percent, and an enormous drop from two years ago, when sales jumped a crazy 252 percent.
Continue reading… “E-book sales are starting to fizzle out”
Amazon is set to shake up it’s rivals.
Internet retailer, Amazon is in a powerful position after the government’s decision to pursue major publishers on antitrust charges. may now get to decide how much an e-book will cost, and the book world is quaking over the potential consequences.
Continue reading… “Amazon to cut e-book prices”
21% of Americans have read an e-book.
Twenty-one percent of Americans have read an e-book in the last year as of February, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. That’s up from 17% in December.
Continue reading… “Is the printed book dead?”
A fifth of American adults report that they have read an e-book in the past year.
Twenty-one percent of Americans have read an e-book. The increasing availability of e-content is prompting some to read more than in the past and to prefer buying books to borrowing them.
Continue reading… “The rise of e-books in America”
The Kindle Fire is a holiday record breaker.
Amazon sent out a press release titled, “2011 is the Best Holiday Ever for Kindle” and looking at the numbers, it seems like a justified statement.
The company reports that there were over a million Kindle devices sold each week, with the Kindle Fire as the hottest item, the Kindle Touch following it up, and the plain old Kindle bringing up the rear…
“If reading becomes dependent on technology that must be purchased, then I think we may see the literacy divide persist and even widen.”
The rapid rise of e-books could lead to a “reading divide” as those unable to afford the new technology are left behind, even as U.S. reading and writing skills decline still further.
Continue reading… “e-Books Could Lead to a “Reading Divide””
Amazon has sold “millions” of third-generation Kindle electronic readers in the most recent quarter.
Amazon.com (AMZN) is now selling more Kindle e-books than paperbacks, the world’s biggest online retailer reported. But Amazon’s fourth-quarter financial results were mixed. Amazon says net income for the quarter climbed 8%, which surpasses Wall Street expectations. But revenue fell short, sending shares down nearly 10% at one point in extended trading.
Continue reading… “Amazon is Selling More Kindle e-Books Than Paperbacks”
E-book sales are up 193% over a year ago.
Jamie Groves has doubled his reading — up to more than 40 books a year — since he began downloading e-books on his Kindle.Sandra Hines calls her Nook her “best Mother’s Day present ever,” after initially worrying, “It wouldn’t feel like I was reading a real book.”
Continue reading… “More Bibliophiles Turning to Digital Readers”
Book fair in Beijing, China.
Several years from now, none of China’s millions of students may have to carry bags loaded with heavy books. Indeed, they may not need to visit libraries or museums, darken the doors of a school, or even be required to talk with teachers or fellow students.
Continue reading… “McGraw-Hill Preparing for an e-Book Boom in China”
Kindle
Here’s a riddle: How do you make your book a best seller on the Kindle? Answer: Give copies away. That’s right. More than half of the “best-selling” e-books on the Kindle, Amazon.com’s e-reader, are available at no charge.
Continue reading… “How Do You Make Your Book A Best Seller On Kindle?”
Sony Reader, the electronic book will be launched in Britain this week by Sony and Waterstone’s. The Reader weighs 9 ounces and has a good battery life for it uses power only when you turn the page. The Sony Reader has a 200MB memory and has enough space for 160 novels.
Continue reading… “Paperbacks May Be Replaced By Sony Reader”
Sometime in the next two years, if Hearst Corp.’s plans work out, a handful of Seattle Post-Intelligencer readers will begin getting their morning news not from the paper on the front stoop or by dropping change in a corner newsbox — or even on their laptop — but from a new electronic newspaper that’s displayed on a screen as light and flexible as paper.
The screen will be about the size of a small tabloid newspaper, and it will be in color.
Continue reading… “The Coming Era of E-Newspapers”
