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Amazon digital books outselling hardcover and paperback combined in the UK

Digital books have certainly taken the technology world by storm thanks in large part to Amazon and its Kindle line of eReaders. There were eReaders on the market before Amazon launched the Kindle, but the market was stagnant and unpopular. The Kindle and Amazon's massive digital library of books for the devices helped spur significant growth in the industry. 
 
According to Amazon, Kindle digital book sales surpassed the sales of hardback books alone in the UK in May of 2011. During that month, Amazon sold digital books at a rate of two-to-one compared to hardcover books.
 
Amazon is now announcing that digital book sales are greater than both hardback and paperback print books combined. The company says that for every 100 print books purchased through its UK website it sells 112 digital Kindle books. The figures for Kindle sales don't count the large amount of available free books. If free books were figured into the equation, the gap between digital books and the sales of hardback/paperback copies would be greater.

 
“Customers in the UK are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books, even as our print business continues to grow. We hit this milestone in the US less than four years after introducing Kindle, so to reach this landmark after just two years in the UK is remarkable and shows how quickly UK readers are embracing Kindle,” said Jorrit Van der Meulen, vice president for Kindle EU.
 
“As a result of the success of Kindle, we’re selling more books than ever before on behalf of authors and publishers. And thanks to Kindle Direct Publishing, thousands of self-published authors have also been given an outlet to share their work with the millions of Kindle readers worldwide.”

Source: TechWeek Europe


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This is terrible
By quiksilvr on 8/7/2012 10:30:48 AM , Rating: 2
Without the millions of trees being chopped down, it will actually give them time to evolve and revolt against-- OH GOD NO!

http://lesliesexton.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/en...




RE: This is terrible
By BushStar on 8/7/2012 11:11:32 AM , Rating: 2
I'm not sure that's true.


RE: This is terrible
By GulWestfale on 8/7/2012 8:35:14 PM , Rating: 2
Article is misleading?
By Hakuryu on 8/7/2012 11:23:58 AM , Rating: 2
Amazon is selling twice as many digital books as physical in the UK.

Not:

In the UK, digital books outsell physical two to one.

At first glance, I thought the second was what this article was about, and that would be huge news, but I think the story is about the first; Amazon-only sales. Good for Amazon, but not exactly industry shaking, which the article implies.




By Master Kenobi (blog) on 8/7/2012 11:29:30 AM , Rating: 2
Considering Amazon is the largest book reseller in the world, I'd say yes, this is a big deal. If Amazon were a small player then your skepticism would be warranted, but they are not. Amazon is a very large portion of the book sales across the globe. This is also why their Kindle line has been so successful, they have the gorilla marketshare to attract and keep the publishers.


Why no price discount for e-books then??
By phazers on 8/7/2012 12:12:01 PM , Rating: 2
COnsidering that it costs Amazon a lot less to put an e-book on their servers for download, why do they charge the same as for a paperback version (minus the shipping of course)? I'd like to see more competition - seems like price-fixing to me, at least here in the USA.

That said, I must admit there are some good deals to be found on Amazon - I got the entire Edgar Rice Burroughs "Tarzan of the Apes" library for under $3. Of course, due to Burrough's depiction of blacks as lower on the evolution scale than whites (particularly English upper-class whites it seems, such as Lord Greystoke), plus his use of the "N-word", the print version may no longer be available anyway due to political correctness..




By senecarr on 8/8/2012 1:21:18 PM , Rating: 2
Amazon gives you the reason e-books don't cost less right on every page - "The price for this e-book was set by the publisher."
For independently published books, the prices are usually a lot lower. Average quality also is a often lower, lacking editors and any kind of vetting process on what gets published.


This explains it why:
By hexxthalion on 8/7/2012 11:17:31 AM , Rating: 2
"EL James, author of the Fifty Shades of Grey series, is the best selling Kindle author and Kindle readers buy four times the number of books they did before owning one, according to other data."

- yep, not every girl here wants to be seen reading that poorly written smut




By GailJonesUk on 8/7/2012 11:36:31 AM , Rating: 2
I've been amazed that for every paperback copy of my young adult novels sold on amazon at least 80 kindle copies have been downloaded. The price has a large impact with a £6 saving on the ebook, but also the novelty, ease and immediate access afforded by the ebook reader.

I might work in I.T., love my laptop and my kindle but I still love to browse in a book store though. My latest visit resulted in the purchase of four paperbacks! I find it much easier to browse for new authors and series in a bookstore then follow online with other titles in the series. I hope we don't lose all bookstores. They are also invaluable for their support to authors. Waterstones have been great with me, hosting two booksignings.




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