Sales of the E-Book are increasing all the time. The latest figures from the Association of American Publishers show that in the first three quarters of 2008 sales of E-books rose by 73%, compared to 2007.
Figures for other categories of book are shown below:
· E-book sales +73% to $5.2 million.
· Adult mass market + 6.3% to $65.3 million.
· Children’s/YA hardcover +0.8% to $86.4 million.
· Professional and scholarly sales – 4.4% to $46.3 million.
· Audio book sales -9.1% to $18.4 million.
· University press paperbacks -13.9% to $4.2 million
· Children’s/YA paperback -14.8% to $43.8 million.
· University press hardcovers -20.4% to $6 million.
· Adult paperback -23% to $95 million.
· Adult hardcover -25% to $246.2 million.
· Religious books -25.6% to $57.1 million.
The amount of money spent on E-books is still very small in comparison to other sectors, but I wonder how much it will increase in the future.
I have never bought an E-book, and I can’t see me doing so in the future – it doesn’t appeal to me. I can see why it might be useful for studying, if you only need to look at a couple of pages of a reference book, but for anything else you just can’t beat having a physical copy of a book in your hands.
Has anyone ever bought an E-Book? What was it like to read, and will you ever do it again? Can you convince me to give it a try?!