Quote:
Originally Posted by rjcroy
I have been surprised by how few people around me have bought e-readers. It doesn't look like it will get beyond niche in the near future.
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Really? What do you consider a "niche"? The numbers I've seen suggest e-book sales are a quarter of the US market. That doesn't seem like a niche. Almost everybody I know who actually reads has, and uses, an e-reader. Some more than others, but they use them.
Selling e-readers in bookstores has always been a losing proposition—you're selling a device to encourage people to actually shop for books elsewhere—so I'm not at all surprised that they're stopping the sales.
However, as for the increase in paper book sales, seen on both sides of the pond, is there a corresponding
decrease in e-books? If not, then perhaps Waterstones is making a mistake, and e-sales are actually pumping paper sales.