Is the death of the book really upon us? Will I no longer be able to drop my book in the bath and blow dry the pages? I for one surely hope not. In 1998 when the first form of E-readers (the Rocket eBook and the Softbook reader) were launched in the Silicon Valley (Lebert, 2011) did anyone expect the significant impact these devices would have on generations to come? These original electronic book reading devices were ‘the size of a (large and thick) book, with a battery, a black and white LCD screen, and a storage capacity of ten books or so’ (Lebert, 2011). At the time this technology proved revolutionary and has of course subsequently launched an entire catalogue of E-reading devices and tablets. Step forward 16 years and almost every technology giant has created a E-reader or device with these same basic principles enabling users to read and store hundreds of titles on one convenient pocket sized device. As noted in a Daily Mail article, e-readers such as the kindle weigh a mere 170g compared to the average paperback of around 300g and can hold up to a staggering ‘1,400 novels on a single device’ (Thomas, 2012). It is no surprise therefore that the eBook trade has become a significant competitor in book sales and a serious market share for a publisher’s income.
So why is this significant for the publisher? Nielsen Books and Consumers survey for the UK book trade in 2013, highlights that last year there was “a 20% increase in e-book purchasing, with UK consumers buying an estimated 80 million e-books in 2013, with spending on this format reaching £300 million [$495 million] … E-books accounted for one in four consumer book purchases in 2013, up from one in five in 2012[…]” (Mackintosh, 2014). Ebooks are dominating a large portion of book sales within the UK, not surprising when you think of the amount of devices owned in the UK, whether it be Ereaders, tablets or smartphones it seems almost everyone can have access to this electronic form of book reading. In 2012 “A total of 1.33 million e-readers were sold over Christmas, according to estimates from YouGov” (Hall, 2012). With retail giants such as John Lewis exclaiming that “it sold one Kindle every 30 seconds over the five weeks to December 31, taking its sales figure to well-over 50,000”(Hall, 2012). The market for E-readers and Ebooks is clearly there and is something the reading public is hungry for. Alan Staton, Head of Marketing at The Booksellers Association explained that “it is clear that Britain is adapting to a digital world" (Hall, 2012).
Publishers are well aware of this huge platform rise and the fact that more time, money and energy is to be invested in their digital products. However consumers are still actively perusing books, it just seems to be dependent on what format they are receiving that content in. Both formats are encouraging the reading books, whether it’s buying a £2.99 Ebook from Amazon or going into a bookshop and spending £7 on a holiday paperback, if more people are reading and enjoying books surely that’s all that matters?
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References
Bilton, J. (2014). Planning for the Digital World. InPublishing, (65), pp.17-18.
Campbell, L. (2013). Amazon has '79% of e-book market in UK'. [Online] Thebookseller.com. Available at: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/amazon-has-79-e-book-market-uk [Accessed 8 Oct. 2014].
Hall, J. (2012). One in 40 get a Kindle for Christmas - Telegraph. [Online] Telegraph.co.uk. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8992114/One-in-40-get-a-Kindle-for-Christmas.html [Accessed 8 Oct. 2014].
Lebert, M. (2011). eBooks: 1998 - The first ebook readers | Project Gutenberg News. [Online] Project Gutenberg News. Available at: http://www.gutenbergnews.org/20110716/ebooks-1998-the-first-ebook-readers/ [Accessed 6 Oct. 2014].
Mackintosh, P. (2014). Nielsen survey shows UK ebook sales up 20 percent in 2013. [Online] TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics. Available at: http://www.teleread.com/uk/nielsen-books-consumers-survey-shows-uk-ebook-sales-up-20-percent-in-2013/ [Accessed 8 Oct. 2014].
Thomas, L. (2012). Death of the paperback in e-reader revolution: Sales drop by 25% in a year. [Online] Mail Online. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2128467/Death-paperback-e-reader-revolution-Sales-drop-25-year.html [Accessed 6 Oct. 2014].