"Amazon sales pop as Kindle books overtake paperbacks"

[JRM34857]

The "Ebook" can now be taken seriously!!!!

http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/27/tech...n_bin&hpt=Sbin

[meme]

Sales over the last 3 or 4 weeks - must be all those Kindle Christmas presents

[vaughnmr]

Originally Posted by meme

Sales over the last 3 or 4 weeks - must be all those Kindle Christmas presents

http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...ks/#more-15677

Actually, for the whole year of 2010. Ebooks outsold paperbooks 115 to 100, and they sold 3 times as many ebooks as hardbooks.

[Anthem]

Originally Posted by CNN Money

In fact, for every 100 paperback books sold, Amazon has sold 115 Kindle books since the beginning of the year, the company said.

Either Amazon's statement is wrong or The Digital Reader read it incorrectly.

But later on The Digital Reader gets it correct? (In the highlights).

Lord only knows.

[Maggie Leung]

From Amazon news release:

* Amazon.com is now selling more Kindle books than paperback books. Since the beginning of the year, for every 100 paperback books Amazon has sold, the Company has sold 115 Kindle books. Additionally, during this same time period the Company has sold three times as many Kindle books as hardcover books. This is across Amazon.com's entire U.S. book business and includes sales of books where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the numbers even higher.

Engadget story links to full news release:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/27/a...in-sales-find/

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by Anthem

Either Amazon's statement is wrong or The Digital Reader read it incorrectly.

But later on The Digital Reader gets it correct? (In the highlights).

Lord only knows.

I think it was just sloppy writing in the article. The very next sentence says:

Ad they sold 3 times as many ebooks as they did hardbacks. What’s even better is that those numbers cover all of 2010, not just this last quarter.

(Emphasis mine.)

[SensualPoet]

Yup, the the-digital-reader editor didn't pay attention to what was written.

For all of 2010, Amazon sold 115 Kindle books for every 100 paperback books. Specifically excluded were free Kindle books.

"Millions" of Kindle 3s were sold in Q4 (Oct-Dec) which "confirms" analyst speculations that Amazon sold 7 to 8 million Kindles in 2010. Note that as recently as Sep, analysts were predicting 4 million Kindles in 2010.

Presumably, Amazon continues to experience strong ebook sales from customers who don't have a Kindle -- in July, they reported 25% of Kindle ebooks were sold to non-Kindle owners.

Anyway you shake it, it's been a strong year for Kindles, and Kindle ebooks.

[Nathan Campos]

Yeah, as many people predicted the ebooks would get more popular than paperbacks. I think that in about 5 years the paperbacks will be a lot more rare, but for this we need a very good color e-ink display technology

[Fbone]

115 ebooks : 100 paperback books

At first it sounds impressive then I realize I never have or would ever buy a paperback from Amazon. Most paperbacks are less expensive elsewhere.

So now it doesn't impress me.

[Blue Tyson]

Yes, and the Book Depository should be taking some of their paper sales I would think.

[C.I.Bond]

Originally Posted by Fbone

115 ebooks : 100 paperback books

At first it sounds impressive then I realize I never have or would ever buy a paperback from Amazon. Most paperbacks are less expensive elsewhere.

So now it doesn't impress me.

There isn't a way to quantify the used bookstore sales either and that's where I troll for new-old stuff.

[SeaBookGuy]

Here I could swear I'd read posts that maintain ebooks are a "niche" market?

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by Fbone

At first it sounds impressive then I realize I never have or would ever buy a paperback from Amazon. Most paperbacks are less expensive elsewhere. So now it doesn't impress me.

Yes, clearly the buying habits of millions of Americans are identical to yours.

Oh, wait, they aren't. In fact they're one of the largest book retailers in the world.

While ebooks probably aren't outselling paper by other measures (e.g. total revenues, profits, all ebooks vs all paper) this is pretty danged impressive, especially given how many more titles are available in paper than as ebooks.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by C.I.Bond

There isn't a way to quantify the used bookstore sales either and that's where I troll for new-old stuff.

Of course there is, Amazon extensively tracks all sales on their sites. It would probably take them all of 5 minutes to run a report on sales of new hardcover vs new paperback vs all 3rd party/used sales for a given year.

I'd guess it's included in the figures. Used sales are generally around 15% of the US market, by the way. Again, your habits do not necessarily reflect what everyone else does.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Yes, clearly the buying habits of millions of Americans are identical to yours.

Oh, wait, they aren't. In fact they're one of the largest book retailers in the world.

Which may possibly suggest they are overpaying for their paperback books.

That is one buying habit I won't join in.

Still not impressed.