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Is e-reader sounding paperback's death knell?
Friday April 13, 2012 01:27:29 AM,
IANS
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London: Paperbacks
may be fighting a losing battle against e-books, with their sales
down by 25 percent, a new finding says.
In the first three months of 2012, 11.3 million paperbacks were
sold, compared to 14.9 million during the corresponding period
last year, thanks to the rise of Amazon's Kindle, Sony's Reader
and tablets such as the iPad.
These digital books can hold up to 1,400 novels on a single device
making them more convenient and lighter to carry around than a
book.
A paperback weighs 300 grams on average, as compared to both the
Kindle and Sony's Reader's weight at 170 grams. Overall, total
book sales are down by around 11 percent, according to figures
from industry analysts Nielsen BookScan, reported the Daily Mail.
But hardback sales have remained steady with figures of around 1.2
million.
Best-selling author G.P. Taylor said: "I believe we are seeing the
death of the paperback and I would say that by 2020 it will be a
little seen commodity."
But "hardbacks will always sell. They are the 'vinyl copies' of
the book industry," added Taylor.
Publishing trade magazine The Bookseller estimates that one in
eight adult fiction books now purchased is in a digital format.
It is predicted that downloading novels will soon become as
regular as downloading music, but hardbacks are expected to remain
popular in physical form because people like to collect and to
keep them.
The Harry Potter franchise was launched in eBook form last week
and sales topped £1 million within days. Fans spent £231-a-minute
buying digital versions of the stories by JK Rowling.
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