In July 2010, Amazon’s Kindle e-book sales surpassed its hardcover sales. In January, 2011, Kindle e-book sales surpassed its paperback sales. In April, 2011, Kindle e-book sales surpassed all its print books sales, both hardcover and paperback. Through May 19, 2011, Kindle e-book sales were three times as high as during the corresponding period last year. Amazon also offers a large number of free e-books for the Kindle. These free e-books are not included in the Kindle sales totals. In short, growth of Kindle e-book sales, which are a large share of the e-book market, have been phenomenal.
An under-appreciated advantage of e-books is that not reading purchased e-books is less burdensome. Book industry analysts know that persons don’t read most of the books that they buy. Persons buy books because they imagine themselves reading the book and benefiting from it, or because they think of themselves as the sort of person who reads a certain book. For the many books bought for such purposes, e-books have a key advantage: they don’t physically pile up. They don’t have a lying, nagging presence. This advantage should not be under-appreciated.
Related post: e-books will soon be more important than print books