E-Books Are Only 6% of Printed Book Sales - Page 2

cfrizz · 09-24-2010, 06:35 PM

There are over 70 million Baby Boomers with various stages of declining eyesight. The oldest of us are President Clintons age on down to the mid 40's. We will be the ones that drive the ebook conversion, since we will tell EVERYONE we know that we are reading more than ever before!

Since getting my Ereader in Jan I have read over 100 books, and over 70 of those were purchases!

If they would stop marketing EVERYTHING toward the friken kids & start marketing toward us, they would be making money hand over fist! We are the ones with the most disposable income. The kids just starting out are struggling just to make ends meet.

All of them need to STOP marketing for age segments and start marketing towards the largest populations

SensualPoet · 09-24-2010, 06:40 PM

Print On Demand as a viable alternative to e-books, offering mass audiences paper books, is entirely impractical and will not happen. eBooks will replace printed books, and sooner than we think. Without book stores to sell paper books, how long before content that doesn't have mass appeal will disappear entirely from paper? And if the stores disappear, so with the paper books.

Premium editions -- gift books, illustrated books, specialty books -- these will survive for an extended time. Mass and trade editions are already on the watch list. Yes, paper will be around -- but not for the lion's share of books currently in print.

Rebo · 09-24-2010, 07:11 PM

With the pricing and DRM restriction of the ebooks, I really can't see that it'll replace the pbooks. I have adopted the ereader but I haven't spent much money in buying books. I mainly read library books and free books. It makes little sense to me to buy a book that I don't own, I can't lend, I can't share, I can't sell, I can't donate and the worst of all is I can't read on another device unless I strip the DRM or install some proprietary app. To top that off, it is not even cheap; it is more expensive than a paparback.

Kali Yuga · 09-24-2010, 07:39 PM

Man, this is hilarious.

A day or so ago, Publisher's Weekly ran an article talking about how ebook sales jumped by 150% and cites this as evidence that ebooks are an unstoppable juggernaut.

Sounds to me like Christopher Mims is the one who is taking the ebook-related press a bit too seriously. Ebooks are clearly on the rise, they're making inroads in education, ebook reader prices are dropping, ebook infrastructure is spreading to numerous platforms. Paper books are likely to persist in many forms for many years to come, but it won't be long before ebooks are just as routine as MP3's and streaming video.

kevinp · 09-24-2010, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rebo

With the pricing and DRM restriction of the ebooks, I really can't see that it'll replace the pbooks. I have adopted the ereader but I haven't spent much money in buying books. I mainly read library books and free books. It makes little sense to me to buy a book that I don't own, I can't lend, I can't share, I can't sell, I can't donate and the worst of all is I can't read on another device unless I strip the DRM or install some proprietary app. To top that off, it is not even cheap; it is more expensive than a paparback.

Summed up very nicely!

Fbone · 09-24-2010, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rebo

To top that off, it is not even cheap; it is more expensive than a paperback.

Especially if you count all the sales Border's, B&N and Amazon have on paper printed books.

Currently Border's has a coupon emailed to everyone for 40% off all paperback books. Limit of 2 books. If you're a reward+ member save an additional 10%.

Half price paperbacks. Now you're paying a large premium for ebooks and their convenience.

GA Russell · 09-24-2010, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

...but it won't be long before ebooks are just as routine as MP3's and streaming video.

It could very well be that I am an out of touch luddite, but it is my impression that mp3's and streaming video are not routine for people over 30. Am I wrong?

joblack · 09-24-2010, 09:07 PM

E-Books will get a huge breakthrough when color eink displays (or similar) are common standard.

Ankh · 09-24-2010, 10:29 PM

Quite a few posts have analysed ebook readers as a permanent category of devices, as "the thing" that will or currently tries to replace the traditional book and is somehow limited both in the target application ("reading books", even "reading books for pleasure") and the target market ("avid readers").

I believe that dedicated ebook reader is transitional technological category. The target, sooner or later, will be (almost) complete replacement of paper, and I am talking businesses, schools etc. The current generation of ebook readers is pioneering note taking, some of them are introducing Wacom pens for freehand notes. We are not there yet, but we are quickly approaching the arrival of affordable bigger devices, capable of displaying A4/letter PDF's, with good freehand writing support. Without sacrificing ebook presentation capabilities.

Attack on ALL printed material in our workplaces and schools is HUGE market, and it is within reach of our technology.

astra · 09-25-2010, 09:44 AM

6% is quite a lot in such a short period of time along with declared all out war by publishers on ebooks.
I am surprised and very glad to see this achievement.

Kali Yuga · 09-25-2010, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GA Russell

It could very well be that I am an out of touch luddite, but it is my impression that mp3's and streaming video are not routine for people over 30. Am I wrong?

I don't know the demographics, so I can't say for sure who is purchasing what.

I do know, however, that CD's are 60% of music revenues, and have declined for most of the past decade. Online song downloads continue to rise.

Also, physical record/CD stores have largely disappeared from the commercial landscape. Ten years ago, there were probably a half-dozen music superstores in New York City (e.g. Tower, 2 Virgin Megastores, several Barnes & Nobles with large music sections etc), and today there are none. Zip, zero, nada. All that's left are increasingly shrinking sections in big box stores like Best Buy, and smaller specialty and used stores.

I expect books will take a similar path: paper sales will slow down (but will hang on longer than the technorati proclaim), big stores will vanish, small stores and online sales will remain, and ebooks will rise.

Barcey · 09-25-2010, 12:07 PM

If the statistics are correct the thing that stands out to me is the large gap between Amazon's ebook market penetration (29.3% of Amazon books sold) vs the industry (6%). It just shows the massive delta between trying to make the ebook market successful and trying to fight it.

Writing about point in time statistics without growth and decline percentages is pointless and I'm disappointed with the MIT article. Amazon reached that market penetration within 3 years despite fighting the publishing industry. From what I've observed they've done this by pricing the ebook a couple bucks cheaper then the cheapest paper edition. I haven't seen them deep discounting ebooks beyond what they're already deep discounting paper books.

emellaich · 09-25-2010, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joblack

E-Books will get a huge breakthrough when color eink displays (or similar) are common standard.

It appears that I'm missing something here, but why? I don't understand the need for color in e-books?

kevinp · 09-25-2010, 08:03 PM

They're figuring ebook readers will go main stream when people can read magazines on them and see all the illustrations in color or use them as school textbooks with color pictures.

Randal6393 · 09-25-2010, 08:41 PM

I'm one of those "older adults" albeit a technologically savvy one. I hang out in a number of coffee shops and see many people working, relaxing, playing, and reading during the average day. Used to be, most people came in for coffee and conversation. Not so much now. Most often now they bring in their computers and use the wireless to surf the net.

I've noticed many people still read DTBooks. A few are now starting to read ebooks from a large variety of devices. Their phones, old PDA's, etc. And a very few use dedicated ereaders. From what I see, new technologies are supplementing the older paper books. But not totally supplanting them. Think this trend will continue.

Much as downloadable music replaced the old, hard-copy media (records, tapes, CD's, etc.), I see ebooks replacing paper. But not completely. Even now, if I want to enjoy my purchased MP3 over a long time, I make a copy of it on CD. So that I can move it from one player or computer to another. I also backup my ebooks so that I can have them for a long time. If I want to refer often to a set of facts, I usually prefer to hard-copy it onto paper rather than use an ereader. Don't see that changing much because Apple has a new iPad out.

Enjoy,

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09-24-2010, 06:35 PM	#16
cfrizz Wizard Posts: 1,567 Karma: 36389706 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Quincy, MA Device: Samsung 54A, Kobo Libra H2O, Samsung S6 Lite	There are over 70 million Baby Boomers with various stages of declining eyesight. The oldest of us are President Clintons age on down to the mid 40's. We will be the ones that drive the ebook conversion, since we will tell EVERYONE we know that we are reading more than ever before! Since getting my Ereader in Jan I have read over 100 books, and over 70 of those were purchases! If they would stop marketing EVERYTHING toward the friken kids & start marketing toward us, they would be making money hand over fist! We are the ones with the most disposable income. The kids just starting out are struggling just to make ends meet. All of them need to STOP marketing for age segments and start marketing towards the largest populations

09-24-2010, 06:40 PM	#17
SensualPoet Wizard Posts: 2,302 Karma: 2607151 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Aura HD, Kindle Paperwhite, Asus ZenPad 3, Kobo Glo	Print On Demand as a viable alternative to e-books, offering mass audiences paper books, is entirely impractical and will not happen. eBooks will replace printed books, and sooner than we think. Without book stores to sell paper books, how long before content that doesn't have mass appeal will disappear entirely from paper? And if the stores disappear, so with the paper books. Premium editions -- gift books, illustrated books, specialty books -- these will survive for an extended time. Mass and trade editions are already on the watch list. Yes, paper will be around -- but not for the lion's share of books currently in print.

09-24-2010, 07:11 PM	#18
Rebo Groupie Posts: 173 Karma: 392 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: nook, nook color, kindle 3, Ipad 2nd gen, Nook HD+, Iphone 4S	With the pricing and DRM restriction of the ebooks, I really can't see that it'll replace the pbooks. I have adopted the ereader but I haven't spent much money in buying books. I mainly read library books and free books. It makes little sense to me to buy a book that I don't own, I can't lend, I can't share, I can't sell, I can't donate and the worst of all is I can't read on another device unless I strip the DRM or install some proprietary app. To top that off, it is not even cheap; it is more expensive than a paparback.

09-24-2010, 07:39 PM	#19
Kali Yuga Professional Contrarian Posts: 2,045 Karma: 3289631 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 4 No Touchie	Man, this is hilarious. A day or so ago, Publisher's Weekly ran an article talking about how ebook sales jumped by 150% and cites this as evidence that ebooks are an unstoppable juggernaut. Sounds to me like Christopher Mims is the one who is taking the ebook-related press a bit too seriously. Ebooks are clearly on the rise, they're making inroads in education, ebook reader prices are dropping, ebook infrastructure is spreading to numerous platforms. Paper books are likely to persist in many forms for many years to come, but it won't be long before ebooks are just as routine as MP3's and streaming video.

09-24-2010, 09:07 PM	#23
joblack Wizard Posts: 1,751 Karma: 4382688 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Somewhere on earth Device: Onyx Boox Tab X C	E-Books will get a huge breakthrough when color eink displays (or similar) are common standard.

09-24-2010, 10:29 PM	#24
Ankh Guru Posts: 714 Karma: 2003751 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Ottawa, ON Device: Kobo Glo HD	Quite a few posts have analysed ebook readers as a permanent category of devices, as "the thing" that will or currently tries to replace the traditional book and is somehow limited both in the target application ("reading books", even "reading books for pleasure") and the target market ("avid readers"). I believe that dedicated ebook reader is transitional technological category. The target, sooner or later, will be (almost) complete replacement of paper, and I am talking businesses, schools etc. The current generation of ebook readers is pioneering note taking, some of them are introducing Wacom pens for freehand notes. We are not there yet, but we are quickly approaching the arrival of affordable bigger devices, capable of displaying A4/letter PDF's, with good freehand writing support. Without sacrificing ebook presentation capabilities. Attack on ALL printed material in our workplaces and schools is HUGE market, and it is within reach of our technology.

09-25-2010, 09:44 AM	#25
astra The Introvert Posts: 8,307 Karma: 1000077497 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: United Kingdom Device: Sony Reader PRS-650 & 505 & 500	6% is quite a lot in such a short period of time along with declared all out war by publishers on ebooks. I am surprised and very glad to see this achievement.

09-25-2010, 12:07 PM	#27
Barcey Wizard Posts: 1,531 Karma: 8059866 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Canada Device: Kobo H2O / Aura HD / Glo / iPad3	If the statistics are correct the thing that stands out to me is the large gap between Amazon's ebook market penetration (29.3% of Amazon books sold) vs the industry (6%). It just shows the massive delta between trying to make the ebook market successful and trying to fight it. Writing about point in time statistics without growth and decline percentages is pointless and I'm disappointed with the MIT article. Amazon reached that market penetration within 3 years despite fighting the publishing industry. From what I've observed they've done this by pricing the ebook a couple bucks cheaper then the cheapest paper edition. I haven't seen them deep discounting ebooks beyond what they're already deep discounting paper books.

09-25-2010, 08:03 PM	#29
kevinp Fanatic Posts: 583 Karma: 3549018 Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Michigan Device: Kindle Scribe, Kindle PW (10th & 11th gen); Fire HD 10	They're figuring ebook readers will go main stream when people can read magazines on them and see all the illustrations in color or use them as school textbooks with color pictures.

09-25-2010, 08:41 PM	#30
Randal6393 Ebook Addict for ten year Posts: 17 Karma: 58 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Charlotte, NC, USA Device: Ebookwise 1150, Bebook Mini as lbook, Dell Axim Pocket PC	I'm one of those "older adults" albeit a technologically savvy one. I hang out in a number of coffee shops and see many people working, relaxing, playing, and reading during the average day. Used to be, most people came in for coffee and conversation. Not so much now. Most often now they bring in their computers and use the wireless to surf the net. I've noticed many people still read DTBooks. A few are now starting to read ebooks from a large variety of devices. Their phones, old PDA's, etc. And a very few use dedicated ereaders. From what I see, new technologies are supplementing the older paper books. But not totally supplanting them. Think this trend will continue. Much as downloadable music replaced the old, hard-copy media (records, tapes, CD's, etc.), I see ebooks replacing paper. But not completely. Even now, if I want to enjoy my purchased MP3 over a long time, I make a copy of it on CD. So that I can move it from one player or computer to another. I also backup my ebooks so that I can have them for a long time. If I want to refer often to a set of facts, I usually prefer to hard-copy it onto paper rather than use an ereader. Don't see that changing much because Apple has a new iPad out. Enjoy,