Digital Books Are Starting To Become More Widely Accepted

The recent surge in the popularity of both e-books and e-book readers has been heavily influenced by Amazon. Amazon’s Kindle reader first hit the market during November of 2006 and further updates followed with the release of the Kindle 2.0 in February of 2009 and the August 2010 launch of the upgraded third generation Kindle. The summer of 2009 also saw the launch of the large format Kindle DX, which was also updated in August 2010.

A great many industry analysts suggested that, notwithstanding the influential role of Amazon in the development of the e-book reader market, the release of the Apple iPad would signal the demise of the Kindle reader. However, after the launch of the third generation Kindle – accompanied by a reduction in the retail price – Amazon has sold out of their readers again. It looks as if demand remains high for what is now Amazon’s best selling product.

E-books have been readily accepted by many readers. Others seem to be attached to physical books. However, for the majority of people the convenience of being able to carry large quantities of books around with them, coupled with the ease of operation offered by e-book readers, has proven to be a winning combination. Recent cuts in e-book reader prices, prompted by the release of the iPad, have made e-book readers a much more attractive option for many readers.

Amazon recently advised that they are currently selling more Kindle books than conventional hardback books. The low selling priced of e-books – they use no paper or ink and have no delivery fees to speak of after all – certainly help. It seems reasonable to suppose that e-book sales will overtake paperback sales – and probably sooner rather than later.

As well as the price, the ease with which e-books can be bought is another influencing factor. Readers can download a book to their Kindle in less than sixty seconds, at any time of the day or night, just as long as they can connect to Amazon’s Kindle store.

A possible area of concern for some customers was the worry that they would be “tied” to one particular e-book reader. This issue has been very effectively addressed by Amazon who have released a large number of free “apps” to allow Kindle books to be read on a wide range of different devices. At the moment, Kindle books can be read on the PC, the Mac, the iPhone, the iPad, the Blackberry smart phone and any device which runs the Android operating system. It’s actually a clever strategy by Amazon. It not only removes customer’s concerns about being tied to one proprietary piece of hardware but every new app acts as a seperate point of sale for Amazon’s vast library of Kindle books. Currently, approximately 20% of all Kindle book sales are destined to be read on non-Kindle hardware.

It looks as if e-books are here for the long term and that they will gradually begin to account for a higher and higher proportion of book sales. It also seems probable that Amazon will continue to be a driving influence in the world of digital publishing in future.