E-Book Sales Pass Print on Amazon

While the Rapture isn’t scheduled to occur until Saturday, according to members of certain religious fringe groups, it looks like doomsday has come early for publishers of print books. Amazon announced Thursday that sales of ebooks on the site have finally surpassed combined sales of hardcovers and paperbacks. For every 100 print books sold since April 1, the company said, it sold 105 digital ones, and credited the surge in ebook sales to its new ad-supported, lower-priced Kindle. “We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined it would happen this quickly,” said CEO Jeff Bezos. “We’ve been selling print books for 15 years and Kindle books for less than four years.” The vice president for Kindle content, Russ Grandinetti, claimed that the digital trend is actually good for publishers. “Even though some digital sales may be substitutions from print, one of the great impacts . . is people spend more minutes a day reading. They make reading more of a habit, and that’s good for the total book business.” But Mike Shatzkin, CEO of the Idea Logical Company, which advises publishers on digital matters, isn't buying it. “[Amazon is] taking print sales away from others while their own devices are taking print sales away from them. That’s the real import of those numbers. It’s one more nail in the coffin of brick and mortar stores,” he told The New York Times. Still, publishers shouldn’t lose hope just yet, some analysts say. According to Forrester... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'

[ AdWeek | 2011-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #mike shatzkin #mortar stores #forrester research #e-book reading #big deal #forrester analyst

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London Book Fair: ones to watch

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Fri, 01/04/2011 - 11:26 Aitken Alexander is reporting strong interest in Grace McLeen's The Land of Decoration, sold last month to Chatto in the UK, Holt in the United States, HarperCollins in Canada and into 10 languages to date. It is about a... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Beautiful Books buys Waugh biography

Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Thu, 31/03/2011 - 15:30 Beautiful Books has acquired an “inquisitive” biography of Brideshead Revisited author Evelyn Waugh. Evelyn! Rhapsody for an Obsessive Love by Duncan McLaren is lined up for hardback and ebook publication on 26th September.... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Taschen's First 3D Books Are Big

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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"Forensic and furious" books up for Orwell Prize

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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TV Book Club titles take £3m through the tills

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Eason to inject €20m into book chain as part of restructure

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Eason to inject €20m into book chain as part of resructure

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 30/03/2011 - 09:36 Eason is pumping €20m into the company over the next three years, at the same time as embarking on trade union talks over a restructure that will likely include some job losses. The Irish bookselling chain announced to staff... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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TechTarget Buys RBI's Computer Weekly While Print Mag Folds

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[ Folio Magazine | 2011-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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"Upbeat" start to Bologna Book Fair

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Desmond's magazine sale called Project Odyssey

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[ Media Week | 2011-03-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales and profit up at Jonathan Goodman

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Media Decoder: Self-Publisher Signs Four-Book Deal With St. Martin's

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[ The New York Times | 2011-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Auel's latest tops Amazon preorders for 2011

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book Ruling Cuts Options for Google

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[ The New York Times | 2011-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Free ‘key driver’ in ebook sales

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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"Bold" Bloomsbury book wins Hessell-Tiltman history prize

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Appstore for Android Opens, Magazines Wait

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[ Folio Magazine | 2011-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BBC boosts bookshop sales by "almost £500,000"

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Trade publishers say ebook sales will not reach 10% until 2012

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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