Amazon: eBook Sales Surpass Printed Books

NEW YORK -- Amazon.com Inc. on Thursday said that, after less than four years of selling electronic books, it's now selling more of them than printed books.

The online retailer said that since April 1, it has sold 105 e-books for every 100 printed books, including printed books for which there is no electronic edition. The comparison excludes free e-books, which would tip the scales further if they were included.

Printed books include both hardcover and paperback books. Amazon said in July that e-book sales had outstripped hardcover sales. It's now selling three times as many e-books as it did a year ago.

Analysts estimate that Amazon accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. e-book sales.

Amazon also said the latest and cheapest version of its Kindle e-book reading device is the best-seller of the line, five weeks after it was introduced. The Kindle with Special Offers costs $114, and shows ads in standby mode.

Comments

[BlackJAC]

08:40 AM on 05/23/2011

Given that Amazon is the primary source of E-books, that's kinda like Burger King's onion ring sales surpassed French fry sales.

[LisaCACO]

08:16 AM on 05/23/2011

hey, I'm doing my best to purchase as many real books as possible! can't figure out why people would want ebooks except for travel maybe (guide books and dictionaries). I love the sensory experience of a book.

[logic-a-go-go]

12:27 AM on 05/23/2011

Probably because these things are being shoved down our throats. No wonder, when the software companies can find a lucrative and gullible audience of people who will be forced to update/upgrade repeatedly. I'll stick with books, thanks. They will never alter, never change, never require upgrades, and will only cost me the $20 or so that I initially pay for them. Books are indeed, the bargain of the centuries.

[thedisassociation]

05:17 PM on 05/21/2011

Until Kindle can give me that amazing old book smell, I'll stick with old school paper copies.

[Tom95134]

03:47 PM on 05/21/2011

Is this the modern day equivalent to burning books? Just think, in some cases content can be changed while your book is being "stored" for you on a network. Essentially, once the printed page disappears you will never be able to be sure someone (or some entity) has "tweaked" the content to meet the latest political or social need.

[rdclark]

03:50 PM on 05/22/2011

Digital content is easier to archive and to protect from damage than physical content. Your e-book collection can be copied and archived in multiple locations; try that with a paper book! Yes, if you choose to use nothing but cloud storage you accept a different level of vulnerability, but the operative word there is "choose."

[BlackJAC]

08:41 AM on 05/23/2011

Really?  Then why is it an electronic storage device shorts out when you get it wet, while a hardcopy book merely gets soggy?

[DXM]

01:35 PM on 05/20/2011

That's nice but 25 years from now all those ebooks will most likely be unreadable. How many file formats from 25 years ago are supported any more even by the updated versions of the programs that originally created them (assuming the company even exists anymore)? In the mean time with proper storage and care, my real books will still be usable and readily enjoyed not just 25 years from now but decades after I am long gone.

[GearRatio]

02:02 PM on 05/21/2011

A very real concern, given the Kindle's proprietary data format. The folks at the Guttenburg foundation have been a bit more sensible, and have stuck with straight ASCII as a data format for their books; ASCII, I think, should remain "machine readable" for a very long time....

[Tom95134]

03:51 PM on 05/21/2011

An alternate would be Acrobat. Adobe did the right thing with this and I believe that Acrobat will be around for a long, long time. There are just too many documents that are being converted and created/output in Acrobat.

My concern is that once you go "electronic" it is much too easy to edit the content when it is stored on a server (for convenience or by copyright agreement).

[rdclark]

03:55 PM on 05/22/2011

Unless your house burns down, there's a hurricane or flood... you get the point.

E-books are just text files with formatting code. The tools for format conversion and DRM removal already exist, and even if, say, Amazon goes out of business and nobody buys the Kindle unit, those tools will become commonly available because there will be nobody who cares about suppressing them.

Yes, ownership digital media requires a different mindset from ownership of physical objects. But it's not complicated, just different.

[BlackJAC]

08:38 AM on 05/23/2011

Unless there's a power outage or an EMP burst...you get the same point vis-a-vis E-books.

[SF TKF]

01:01 PM on 05/20/2011

I wonder if that includes used books sold by second parties or just new books sold by Amazon . . .

[BlackJAC]

08:41 AM on 05/23/2011

I suspect it's solely Amazon's own sales figures being used here.

[fivefilters]

12:43 PM on 05/20/2011

We have a new service which can send web articles to your Kindle. If anyone's interested: http://fivefilters.org/kindle-it/

[Tom95134]

03:52 PM on 05/21/2011

WHat proof do you have that the article hasn't been "tweaked" as it passes through this sevice?

[drp103]

09:11 AM on 05/20/2011

A word of advice: some day your books will become collector's items-$$$$!!!!

[NeoStar9]

09:01 AM on 05/20/2011

Love my Kindle. I got the original as a gift from my parents and picked up the 3rd edition myself when it came out. I read a lot before but space for the books became an issue. Digital versions greatly help in that regard and I like having a collection of books on hand when I choose. I'm not against physical books. If I get more space I might start buying them again just so I can have my own library. Would love to have a room just filled with books one day.

[Tom95134]

03:54 PM on 05/21/2011

I still buy paper books. When I have finished with them (usually two or three reads) I pass them on to someone else so they can share in the enjoyment of reading a book. Electronic books are generally tied to one person or device.

[markIDGCONNECT]

08:25 AM on 05/20/2011

I have mixed feelings. Was inevitable, but things are ever-changing!

Mark at http://www.idgconnect.com/blog

[El Saltine]

12:02 AM on 05/20/2011

The revolution rolls on. Think of all the trees we'll save.

[lisalovesamelie]

08:15 AM on 05/20/2011

I love mine. It's the best gift I've ever received; the gift that keeps on giving. I read so much more than before I had it, and I have always loved to read.

[Absolute]

10:43 PM on 05/19/2011

I love my Kindle, but I love my books too. I'll always have both.

[GearRatio]

02:05 PM on 05/21/2011

As one who is constitutionally unable to walk by a used book store without stopping for a "browse," must wholeheartedly agree!

That said, I've let my nearest & dearest know that a Kindle reader would be a much appreciated gift, come next birthday....

[Tom95134]

03:56 PM on 05/21/2011

I tend to buy paperback books because they fit in the back pocket of my pants. Try that with a Kindle.

[logic-a-go-go]

12:29 AM on 05/23/2011

And no big thing if you drop your paperback on the subway platform. Try THAT with a Kindle.

[Brianna Leigh]

05:41 PM on 05/26/2011

Doesn't the iPod have a Kindle app?