Australians Love Affair with eBooks

[Lin2412]

I'm definitely not Australian, but I'm glad of this news!

[more love for ebooks in Australia article]

eBook sales have flattened out or even begun to decrease in North America and the UK. This isn’t the case in Australia though, where in the last two years the industry has seen rapid growth.

The proportion of Australians aged 18-24 buying eBooks online in any given three-month period has also increased, from 3.9% in 2013 to 5.1% in 2014 — despite being the only age group to have seen a decrease in reading incidence (from 55.3% to 53.3%).
Meanwhile, the 65+ age group showed a growing willingness to adopt this new technology, with the proportion purchasing eBooks rising from 4.1% to 5.4% — a higher proportion than some of the younger age groups that have grown up in the digital age. Reading books in general also increased among this older demographic, from 64.5% to 67.1%.

[Quexos]

Well good for Australians. But I did not know Americans and British were slowing down on their e-book purchases. Does that mean they are returning to paper books or that they are on average reading less, I wonder?

[HarryT]

Could you give a link to support the claim that ebook sales are declining in the US and UK?

[thewitt]

What are the main sales channels for eBooks in Australia?

[murg]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Could you give a link to support the claim that ebook sales are declining in the US and UK?

Well, clearly the Australian's are buying up more than their share of the available eBooks, leading to a shortage of availability in the US and the UK. This has lead to increased prices in the US and UK, with the corresponding fall in sales.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by murg

Well, clearly the Australian's are buying up more than their share of the available eBooks, leading to a shortage of availability in the US and the UK. This has lead to increased prices in the US and UK, with the corresponding fall in sales.

I'm afraid I don't understand the logic of this argument. Why would Australians buying more books result in a shortage? Ebooks are not physical objects; they're just files .

[thewitt]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm afraid I don't understand the logic of this argument. Why would Australians buying more books result in a shortage? Ebooks are not physical objects; they're just files .

They've run out of bits.... all the 1's and 0's have been taken, so there are no more eBooks available...

[meeera]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm afraid I don't understand the logic of this argument. Why would Australians buying more books result in a shortage? Ebooks are not physical objects; they're just files .

.....

[WillAdams]

_I_ thought it was funny, and awarded karma.

[pdurrant]

I suspect that the figures that supposedly show a decline in US and UK ebook sales are wrong. See the info in the January 2015 Author Earnings report.

The argument is that the traditional book sales counting methods greatly undercount self and small publishers, especially in ebooks.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I suspect that the figures that supposedly show a decline in US and UK ebook sales are wrong. See the info in the January 2015 Author Earnings report.

The argument is that the traditional book sales counting methods greatly undercount self and small publishers, especially in ebooks.

Certainly the bulk of my purchases are self published or small press. Probably seventy percent.

[Froide]

Originally Posted by meeera

.....

+1. LOL

[crossi]

well it might be slowing down. In my case it has. When I first got my kindle I went crazy and rebought most of my keepers, several thousand dollars of ebooks. In the last year I've slowed down considerately as I've already replaced the majority of my library and am mostly buying new books. That doesn't mean I've slowed down reading or have returned to paper.

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by crossi

well it might be slowing down. In my case it has. When I first got my kindle I went crazy and rebought most of my keepers, several thousand dollars of ebooks. In the last year I've slowed down considerately as I've already replaced the majority of my library and am mostly buying new books. That doesn't mean I've slowed down reading or have returned to paper.

This pretty much covers me, too (although I didn't spend thousands on buying ebooks when I got my first ereader). I've got enough unread books to probably last me 3 lifetimes, so it's now rare that I'll buy anything new unless it's something I really can't do without reading. Of course there's always super deals on good stuff and the occasional freebie from Amazon that still gets me. But I know I probably won't be able to finish reading what I do have in my lifetime at this point so I'm just not buying near as much.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by murg

Well, clearly the Australian's are buying up more than their share of the available eBooks, leading to a shortage of availability in the US and the UK. This has lead to increased prices in the US and UK, with the corresponding fall in sales.

Let me follow that logic:

Because Australians buy more ebooks, there's a SHORTAGE of ebooks being sold in the US and the UK, and therefore US and UK citizens purchase less ebooks due to higher prices BECAUSE of this shortage?

I'm sorry, but I find this logic dubious, at best.