Ken Isaacson Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 In today's New York Times. "In the latest chapter in the unfolding tale of the book evolution from ink to pixels, Amazon.com said Thursday that its customers now buy more e-books than print books. Since April 1, Amazon sold 105 books for its Kindle e-reader for every 100 hardcover and paperback books, including books without Kindle versions and excluding free e-books." Read the entire article here: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simply K Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 I have to admit that I have bought a lot of eBooks since buying my Kindle at the beginning of the year, but I still prefer actual physical books and I think I probably always will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 I wrote a short piece about it for the BCF Blog yesterday (see HERE). The Telegraph was saying it was 143 e-books for every hardback (consistent over the last three months) and 180 Kindle books for every 100 hardbacks in the last month, which is a HUGE leap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oceansoul Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 It's probably because of how cheap kindle books are. When you can get books for under a pound or just over then why pay £7.99 for the same thing? If you have a kindle then it doesn't matter whether it's a 'treebook' or an e-book you get the same story. I actually visited my local Waterstones store this morning and a book that I know is £6.99 on kindle was £12.99 to buy in hardback. Why on earth would I pay double the price? Why should I? I think more people will be opting for kindles in the future. Especially now Tesco is selling them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 Not surprising, really. I have spent more on books since I bought my Kindle. One of the appeals is the immediacy of it. If you have a 'craving' to read a particular book NOW, you don't have to wait until you can get to the shops, or a few days for the book to be delivered. You can start reading it immediately (assuming it is available in ebook format). Before my Kindle, I used to 'um-and-ahh' over books in book shops, and more often than not walk away empty handed. Now, if I see an ebook I want, I often buy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixie Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 It's probably because of how cheap kindle books are. When you can get books for under a pound or just over then why pay £7.99 for the same thing? If you have a kindle then it doesn't matter whether it's a 'treebook' or an e-book you get the same story. I actually visited my local Waterstones store this morning and a book that I know is £6.99 on kindle was £12.99 to buy in hardback. Why on earth would I pay double the price? Why should I? I think more people will be opting for kindles in the future. Especially now Tesco is selling them. I am curious. Are e-book generally cheaper than paperbacks in the UK? Because I am finding that here in the US, the paperbacks are usually cheaper. Until the e-books are cheaper or at least the same as the price of paperbacks, I will continue to buy the paperbacks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 (edited) Pixie, on the whole, Kindle books are cheaper than the print version, e.g. most paperbacks RRPs are around £7.99 while the Kindle versions are about £4.99. However, there is no requirement for the shops to sell the books at the RRP, so you will see them discounted, either via 3 for 2 offers, buy one get one free, 2 for £7, etc. so if you buy three Kindle books for £14.97, you may well have been able to buy them for £15.98 on a 3 for 2 offer, in which case, they're only marginally cheaper. There is a difference in the selling of ebooks in the UK as well, in that the publishers are able to set the price, and not let the booksellers discount, plus, ebooks in the UK are subject to VAT, while print books aren't, so although they might have been cheaper in ebook format, once the tax is added, the price is closer to the print version. In addition, there seems to be a trend that while the print version of the book is still only available in hardback, the Kindle version prices are kept high by the publisher, and only drop once the book has later been released as a paperback. I feel this is very unfair, as there is no difference in the cost of producing the digital version, it's just an excuse for the publishers to try and get more money from fans. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that authors have to make a living, and that publishers must make a profit, but charging more for a digital version of a book that has cost them next to nothing in raw materials doesn't do them any favours in an ever changing market where they need to be nurturing readers not turning them away. So, overall, it varies, is the short answer! Edited May 21, 2011 by chesilbeach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oceansoul Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 On occasion an e-book can be a little bit more due to VAT, but in general e-books are a lot cheaper. I am speaking from the perspective of someone who enjoys horror/crime/fantasy novels and a lot of the e books I get cheaply are by 'unknown' authors. E-books are most definitely cheaper then the RRP for books though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixie Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 In addition, there seems to be a trend that while the print version of the book is still only available in hardback, the Kindle version prices are kept high by the publisher, and only drop once the book has later been released as a paperback. I feel this is very unfair, as there is no difference in the cost of producing the digital version, it's just an excuse for the publishers to try and get more money from fans. I have noticed this trend in the states as well. The large, well-established publishers like Penguin also set the e-book price and won't allow amazon to discount it; while smaller, lesser-known publishers don't do this. Thank you both, chesilbeach and oceansoul, for the information. I am crossing my fingers that e-book prices will come down more. With the direction things are moving, I think they will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lumo Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 Also, won't sales of very cheap classics on the kindle skew the figures a bit? Kindle users seem to stock up a library of classics and other cheap e-books which they might not buy in a book shop in paper form as even cheap classics cost a lot more in paperback than ebook, however they also might not read all these anytime soon on the Kindle. So people stocking up a library will increase the Kindle books sales but won't be a good comparison to shop sales in terms of what is actually read. The amount of books read on Kindle versus on paper would be interesting, but much harder to find out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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