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One in 20 prefer the e-book

30.05.08

Just one in 20 people is electing to buy an electronic version of a book rather than a hard copy, Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos, revealed six months after the release of its much-touted "e-reader", the Kindle, notes the Times. Bezos told delegates at the D: All Things Digital conference that e-book sales accounted for just 6% of overall sales of titles where two versions - a hard copy and an electronic version - were available.

Bezos said Amazon's goal was "not to displace people's love of the physical book," but to offer the ability to download any book at short notice. He added that he saw e-books as having the potential to become a significant part of Amazon's business.



The Times

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By JULIAN RIVERS

I remember sharing a stage at an International Print Federation Conference in Amsterdam in the mid 80's with a director of IBM . He said that the only books in 20 years would be computer manuals . I argued the converse as you would expect and because of the partisan audience got the greater applause . However twenty years on , he was nearer the truth than I . Going forward surely printed fiction is effectively over, as are printed academic texts, which are far better served by loading onto an E reader . I can see illustrated non fiction being maintained but the convenience of loading a dozen novels onto a kindle is inescapeable .

30 May 08 09:38

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By Naomi Mott

It reminds me of the millions of dollars NASA poured into developing a pen that could write in space, while the Russians took up the good old pencil. Paperbacks are too convenient to give up lightly, however, there is a place for Kindle in e-periodicals or even e-newspapers. Kindle will take off when it finds it's niche market and for now and the near future, that isn't novels.

30 May 08 10:17

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By June Austin

That's a name I remember from the past Naomi, from a certain writers forum I still post on - remember me ? Personally I think we are a long way from the Ipod moment yet - in in 20 of Amazon's customers may well prefer e-books, but they have a relatively small (but growing admittedly) share of the market - the majority still buy paper copies in stores.

30 May 08 10:51

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By imatree

6% sounds like an astonishingly high figure, considering how few Kindles are in circulation. I'd guess that fewer than 1% of book buyers have a Kindle so they are really spending. Or Bezos may be referring to one book which had 6% e-book sales. I agree with June that the iPod moment for novels is not here yet - but it will come as soon as the 'reader' is right.

30 May 08 11:36

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