According to figures released today by the Association of American Publishers, so far this year ebook sales are up 167% while paperbacks have plunged 64% and hardcovers have dropped 25%. It's a safe prediction that the holiday season will create a sharp spike in ebook sales and an even steeper drop in paperback and hardcover sales. It won't be long now until the mass market paperback becomes virtually extinct.
I’m not surprised, and I also look forward to e-sales as we reach the holidays and thereafter.
And if ereaders are once again the big Christmas gift, imagine the post holiday spike in ebooks.
I doubt they will go wholly extinct. Like horses after the advent of the car, paperbacks still have very loyal fans and make for tangible gifts.
There’s likely to remain a good demand in countries where the average person lacks the cash for a reading device.
We can consider that the major publishers will cut back on mass market print runs except for their bestsellers and use POD tech to print one copy at a time as an order comes in for the rest of their writers.
Bookstores are likely to remain–gotta have that overpriced coffee!–but morph to keep themselves open. My local B&N is selling many more educational toys and the Nook sales area covers about 1/8th of its square footage.
They may shelve a token number of hard copies to browse. The bigger stores might have a printer/binder on the floor if the machine can be relied upon not to crap out on the job.
It’s a matter of time before I get a reader. So far the app on my laptop suits me fine. But when I do, I expect I’ll thin out my bookshelves of hard copies of popular titles and public domain titles.
But no one gets my long out-of-print reference collections! 😀
Yeah, I want a library shelf that fits into a SD Card?
I’m a collector. I like books. Ebooks have their place, but paperbacks will always be. Every fad goes through its high times. Once the ereader/ebook revolution levels off, paperbacks will still be standing.
Chicken Little will go back and watch his dvd collection of Benson. Generations keep things alive, just like the market for old time radio shows, people want the familiar no matter how shiny that cabage patch doll is, the little girl will always want her raggedy ann doll.
Things go in cycles.
I like to bathe with Dave Barry, which possibly had something to do with his divorce. But I don’t see Kindling e-Dave. Unless they are waterproof to at least a foot.
Nothing like a good ebook under the tree this year. Thanks for the info.