When Will E-Books REALLY Take Over?

There's been a lot of talk about Amazon's announcement that Kindle e-books are outselling paper books at their Web site. Many uninformed folks have taken Amazon's claim and started spreading a loud rumor that E-BOOKS HAVE TAKEN OVER PUBLISHING.

They haven't.

E-books in general account for around $69M of the market, while adult paperback and adult hardcover combine for about $212.5M, according to the Association of American Publishers (AAP). March 2011 sales figures showed that print books as a whole equal somewhere around $338M while e-books (as mentioned previously) are at $69M.

When will e-books really take over?

There are a lot of guesses, of course, but no one knows for sure. If the transition from print to e-books compares at all to CDs and MP3s in the music industry, it could be only a couple years until e-books really take over. On March 2, 1983, CD players and discs were released in the US and other markets. Audio Highway released the first MP3 player in 1997. Certain studies show that digital music will finally overtake CDs by 2012, which means consumers will have taken roughly 15 years since the introduction of the first MP3 player to "switch over" to digital music.

The first e-reader, the Rocketbook, released in 1998.

Is 2013 the magic date for the e-book takeover, then? I don't think so, but it's fun to create an educated guess, isn't it? When do you think e-books will rule the world?

On a side note, I don't believe paper books will ever disappear. People are too attached to that format to let it go entirely. I think e-books and paper books will coexist for many, many years to come! Both are incredibly important to the publishing world.

Bookstore Sales Up Nearly 10%

Despite the Borders bankruptcy/store closures, increasing e-book sales, and breakout self-published stars like Amanda Hocking, bookstore sales rose 9.3% in February, totaling $1.11 billion according to a report by the Census Bureau published this morning. That's right, plenty of readers are still buying print books!

Facebook Users Prefer Print Books Over E-books

I ran a poll yesterday at my Facebook profile page and asked my digital-embracing friends (they're using a social network, so obviously they've embraced "digital") what they prefer--e-books or print books. I wondered if the e-book format would actually triumpth over print in this poll due to the fact that the participants were "digital savvy." I think there's a belief out there that readers who choose print books over e-books aren't digitally advanced. I don't think that's true, and maybe this poll kind of proves that ... Here are the poll results:

Print Books: 85%
E-books: 12.5%
Enjoy both, can't choose between one or the other: 2.5%

I found it interesting that a few of the comments were from friends who actually own an e-reading device but still prefer print books. Many of the participants are in love with the smell and feel of print books and therefore will not switch to digital (or bother with e-books at all). So what's my conclusion? It appears that e-book sales (or popularity) might have increased from last year's 9%, but e-readers like the Kindle and Nook will need to do a better job mimicking print books if they ultimately want to conquer print books. Even some of the most digital savvy readers aren't about to abandon the "old fashioned" physical book for another piece of technology!

What do you think? Will you run a poll of your own and let me know the results? Click here to comment.

E-Book Sales = 9% of Trade Book Sales in 2010

This is old news but worth repeating for some ... In 2010, according to the Association of American Publishers (AAP), e-book sales represented around 9% of trade book sales. While the e-book format is incredibly important in today's publishing world, keep in mind that print format is still very much alive, especially adult paperbacks which rose 4.1% in 2010. Also, downloaded audiobook sales increased by almost 5%. Just another reason why you should publish your book in as many formats as possible!

Do you have a book you'd like to publish in multiple formats? I encourage you to visit www.mindstirmedia.com, home to the self-publishing company I own. MindStir can help you publish your book as a paperback, e-book, and downloadable audiobook.