"I'm talking about the crime or romance readers. They tend to read a lot of books and the cost is a deciding factor: you can get these books cheaper as e-books. If you love crime and read plenty more that you can't keep it all, you probably give away a lot of books for the charity. Is different if you buy hardcover fiction: you don't throw that away, "he says.
So we'll recall 2011 as real life books, put them on the shelf year become obsolete? It's certainly a turning point and maybe an even more dramatic than expected. Pack says curiously e-book sales are up to three times within a few months ago.
"Last month, the Kindle became the Christmas gift. Eighteen months ago, an e-book strong sale was selling in the TENs. Now the same e-book will sell thousands of copies, "he says. "The really interesting thing is the fact that people are getting these devices on Christmas day. For bricks and mortar stores in the week before Christmas is usually the most important. For e-books is the week after Christmas becomes crucial. "
Offline, however, these are testing times for the publishing industry, especially on the street. Last year it was reported that independent booksellers were closing down at a rate of two per week. Waterstone confirmed that 20 of their stores will close in the next 12 months as part of cost-cutting. And it is only a year since the borders and books Etc, with 45 UK shops, entered into administration and then shut down. Digital could very well be the salvation of publishers. Or at least had better be.
The bookseller reported this month that digital will become more dominant in 2011, with participation of e-books market quadrupling of five to seven per cent. However, there is a big problem with these estimates. There are no actual sales figures for these devices. After all, why Amazon, Sony or Apple would leave the competition to know how they're doing? Similarly, there is no precise figures for sales of books downloaded.
Philip Stone, graphics editor, the bookseller, explains: "the only information we have about e-book sales estimates is the Publisher. They put the size of the e-book market last year in the United Kingdom in about one to two percent of the entire book trade – or around the brand of 25 million pounds ".
While insiders can guess only the numbers involved, the bookseller has compiled its own list of eBestseller estimated on the basis of positions given by Waterstone, WHSmith, Amazon and Apple. (All of them produce chart lists of e-books, but not reveal sales figures).
One of the most interesting things that these graphs show that is at the same time as many Kindle owners first tendidos to be people in trade books and your downloads on the choices that now all quite literary bestsellers dominate the list.
It is a sign of the breadth that Stieg Larsson turned device occupies almost all positions on the chart and movements of one day by David Nicholls up and down. Other large sellers as e-books include life by Keith Richards, what you see is what you get: my autobiography by Alan Sugar, confessions of a GP by Benjamin Daniels, The Snowman by Jo Nesbo and sister by Rosamund Lupton. So far the room by Emma Donoghue is the only shortlister Booker Prize to crop from the list of eBestseller, although curiously Scott Pack says he heard about "a lot of people choose Wolf Hall".
So if you got an inflammation on Christmas day, the book that was your first download? Realized a straw poll totally unscientific in Twitter that question. Plots were free books: pride and prejudice, Sherlock Holmes, Gulliver's travels. First pay for downloads included even the dogs by Jon McGregor (Bloomsbury, £ 3.80 on Kindle), salto Jilly Cooper (Transworld Digital, £ 6.11 in Kindle) and I think I love you by Allison Pearson (CCV Digital £ 4.38 in Kindle). Many bought the help by Kathryn Stockett (ePenguin), best-selling year-to-mouth and a book group favorite.
Of course, many of the largest users of these digital devices are still likely to be "early adopters"-people who like to be seen for the first time with the new must-have. This group includes the publication industry insiders, and authors yourself and there are endless "cool spotting" sites dedicated to find celebrities in love with your e-reader. (Cameron Diaz, Karl Lagerfeld, Toni Morrison and Jennifer Aniston Kindle. Steve Martin and Justin Bieber iPad are in the field. Oprah Winfrey has both, of course).
The British novelist Polly Samson cheerfully admits to purchasing your own book perfect lives (Hachette Digital, £ 8.49) as its first Kindle download. "I bought my daughter eight years a Kindle for Christmas and couldn't resist seeing how mine looked into e-book format. Is there any published writer whose first download is not your own?
Comedian Dave Spikey, of Channel 4 TV Book Club, the presenter is a newly converted to Sony e-Reader. "When the music went first, everybody said it wouldn't take off. Now everyone is comfortable with it. The same happens with books. What I like most is that you can choose the font. My eyes go a bit now so that really helps. "
About to embark on a UK tour, he transferred a digital library for book their trips, including TV Book Club pick spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst and an old favorite, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
Not everyone shares enthusiasm of Spikey, though. Your colleague Amanda Ross TV producer, a voracious reader, digital still a skeptic. Dubbed "the most influential person in the publication", Ross was the mastermind behind the Richard and Judy Book Club. Is telling his disapproval.
"I'm passionate about the idea of physical books. There is no feeling like cracking open a new draft. You cannot read a Kindle in the bath. Curling with a glass of wine in front of the fire with an electrical device is not conducive to relaxation. I spend my workday staring at a screen. Why do I want to spend my leisure time looking for one? Is a strange concept: a single download to you personally, and that's it. You cannot share them or pass them. And what about the joy of a library of books to grow?
These are still very early days of the digital revolution. And what's interesting is that despite its popularity alleged is still non-standard turn of phrase to refer to the gadgets. Sometimes e-reader is used as a catch-all, but even that is problematic because it is a Sony brand name. "E-book reader", "digital reading device" or even "digital player" can become the common language, but at the moment, none of them exactly travel outside of the language.
Until we have to face what call these devices, paperbacks and hardbacks still has a future. We should enjoy them as we can. I'm not sure that my Sondheim would be as gorgeous if not could flip through the pages.
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