Virtual Book Sales Surpass Physical Books

The Journal of Commerce ^ | Dec 29 2009 | Thomas L Gallagher

[Milhous]

Amazon's Kindle Reader cuts book shipping

Book sales in the United States surged during the holiday season, but in a dramatic shift for the shipping world, retailer Amazon.com said this week sales of e-books for the first time surpassed sales of physical books. 
 
Amazon’s peak in e-book sales occurred on Christmas day as gift recipients used their new Kindle reading devices to make purchases from among the 390,000 books available in Amazon’s Kindle Store.

The Kindle electronic reader, which allows users to download books and other media from a variety of sources, was “the most gifted item ever in our history,” said Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.

Overall retail spending the first of November through Dec. 24 increased 3.6 percent compared with last year, according to MasterCard’s SpendingPulse survey, which tracks cash as well as credit purchases. The online portion of sales jumped 15.5 percent compared with last year to account for 10 percent of all retail sales, the survey said.

Another retailer industry watcher said online spending in the United States grew 10 percent in November over a year ago. The comScore research firm said online sales reached $12.3 billion in November, and the group said visits to the Web site of Wal-Mart grew 62 percent and visits to the Target site grew 43 percent over last year.

[ken5050]

I wonder when the price of a Kindle will be more like that of a printer...which they virtually give away..in order to sell you toner..

[VOA]

“
don’t flame me...
I have a Sony 505 eReader and I absolutely love it.
“

No flames here.

When finishing off my 200-plus page thesis...along with six copies
for my thesis committee and submission to the university library...
I asked my long-suffering advisor “Shouldn’t this be replaced with
digital formats in order to save the trees?”

She, as an old-school academician said in so many words
“This is the traditional method!”

And she was the campus professor in charge of the campus chapter of
The Sierra Club.

Believe it....OR NOT!!!

[Pietro]

Ah yes; buggy whips!!! Surely you could have congered a less threadbare cliche.

Another art bites the dust, but hey, that's progress.

And in our rush to be even more insubstantial than we already are another touchstone is erased, thread by thread; the memory hole expands.

This is not progess my FRiend, but a loss of something precious, brought about by a betrayer.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

I prefer to hold a hardcopy also. But since downloaded books are so much cheaper ($9.00), I might buy hardcopy editions of only those I consider collectible.

BTW, I have Kindle for PC on both my PC and laptop (it is a free download) and read one (free) book. It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.

[listenhillary]

The ministry of truth approves of teh e-book. Stroke of a key and the new history is in place.

[Glenn]

What do you say to the thousands who make their living printing, publishing, and selling hard copy books Jeff?

I wouldn't trade my Kindle for a new pickup truck. It's an amazingly convenient device. I can now carry 60 reference books in my case in addition to a couple dozen more books on topics I am interested in.

I'm really sorry that offends you, but physical books take up an enormous amount of space.

When I moved from Georgia to Pennsylvania, I took all of my old reference books (DOS, Windows 3.1, C Language, et al) to a dump. There were 2400 pounds of them.

Additionally, there are a lot of struggling authors who are self-publishing on Amazon who give away their work. Some of them are rated really well. That author might actually have a chance to get published next time.

Embrace the future.

I know I had to when they started shipping jobs offshore to 'virtual' employees.

[Cicero]

Well, people will do what they want to do. Personally, I have no interest in Kindle.

I do wonder whether Amazon is smart pushing Kindle as hard as they do. They have a real lock on buying things on the net—not only books but a lot of other stuff that is well priced. That business model has done very well for them.

Will they be able to guard their backs if the new ebooks really take off? Will they be able to keep the lion’s share of that business if Google or Microsoft step in and compete with them head to head? Frankly, I think this is very, very risky for them. Yet whenever you visit Amazon, the first thing that hits you in the face is Kindle, like it or not. They are really pushing it.

[Random Access]

What do you say to the thousands who make their living printing, publishing, and selling hard copy books Jeff?

The same thing you say to people who made 8 track tapes or CRT TV's. People are going to exercise their freedom to choose how they want to spend their money as new options become available.

[dr_lew]

I have to hold a book and turn the pages.

I don't HAVE to, but I much prefer it. I bought a book from amazon on 12/26 for $11.48 + $3.99 S&H . Then, in a separate transaction offered only after completion of the order, I paid $3.19 to have it available to me online via the "amazon reader". It says you can make annotations and stuff in the offer, but when I brought it up these features were "not available at this time".

I read most of the book this way, then the hard copy came yesterday, 12/29. When I picked it up and flipped through it, I felt like I was really seeing it for the first time. It's like coming up for air, or something. The "amazon reader" is nothing more than a pdf viewer, really, so I suppose page flipping is much more convenient in Kindle, but I don't think you can beat a real book.

[Milhous]

The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated - Mark Twain

My sluggish brain initially mashuped Twain and Fields

I would rather be living in Philadelphia.

until I kick started the old neurons. LOL.

[gardengirl]

I have to hold a book and turn the pages.**

Something so comforting about that, isn’t there? LOL

I, too, am ambivilent about the readers. I like the concept, and I read a lot of stuff on my computer, so I don’t know why exactly.

Habit? Turning into an old fogey? OTOH, it would sure clear up an awful lot of closet and attic space, considering I prob have more books than the local library! LOL

[RJS1950]

Various sources and administrators at a lot of schools including the one I’m at keep pushing us to move to e-books for our students wherever possible. When I looked into it I found little difference between the e-book and the physical text as far as price. The specialized texts are just as expensive regardless of format and one other consideration is that I couldn’t find “used” e-books so you pretty much pay full price everytime. I want the physical book where I can flip pages and compare page 122 to page 355 by simply flipping back and forth. The e-books will have to be a lot cheaper on Amazon to pull anyone with a brain away from the used paper versions.

[BenKenobi]

Couple problems with kindle besides the aforementioned power issues.

1. Property rights. Kindle has in the past removed books due to unresolved copyright issues, not only from their store but from people’s downloads. I find that stance extremely intrusive.

2. The monitoring issue, again they can see what people are readiing. I have a problem with that.

3. The corruption issue. How can you be sure that the kindle book is accurate and that they haven’t made ‘changes’ to the book?

4. Resale and gifts. Can’t do either with the Kindle, which is why the price is lower.

I see the benefit in not having to lug books around, but this is called a ‘laptop’. Everything I needed for school was on here.

[Pietro]

"Embrace the future."

Guess I'm the Luddite here, but everyday some thing that is real and true is lost and I have no interest in being a "virtual' anything.

It trips us up, this "convenience". I guess I see this as a metaphore for our disappearing humanity, the coursening continues apace.

Its not the Kindle itself, per se, perhaps its the over-abundance, the too convenient that troubles me. Maybe somethings shouldn't be convenient, perhaps there's a value in difficulty. When everything is ready to hand why bother reaching out for anything?

We now have commercials on TV advising children to go outside and play. Let me repeat; We now have commercials on TV advising children to go outside and play.

Look outside.........

Where are the children?

[kdot]

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/index.php

This is a really good forum for eBook readers. There are separate forums for each of the vendors. Plus, they have a nice collection of eBooks that people have uploaded and are available for free. Between this site and the Google domain, the majority of my books were free.

Have fun!

[jacquej]

I have downloaded the free app from Amazon to my iPhone, and my kindle sits collecting dust.

Reading on the iPhone is better for me. I can read in the dark at night, not disturbing my husband. I can read in the checkout line at the supermarket, while waiting the Docs, etc.

Hardcover books for “keepers”, and the iPhone for escapist reading. Love the change, and the ease of finding the exact “penny terrible” that catches my interest.

Read through the entire Stephanie Plum series, and am now working my way through the Jack Reacher series. We live in a rural area, and the nearest bookstore is over an hour away. eReader and Amazon are wonderful.

[IYAS9YAS]

Another art bites the dust, but hey, that's progress.

I'm sorry, I thought the art was in the story itself, not the medium. You could bind the latest version of the Healthcare bill or Cap and Trade in leather with - forgive me, I'm not a bibliophile, so I don't know the proper terms - fancy paper and gilded edges, and they would still not be art. I'm just as happy reading the classics in paperback as I am with them in leather bindings.

Paper from wood pulp is only the most current version of the medium on which the printed word is produced. Would you prefer we revert to hemp or animal skins?

[gardengirl]

I hear you loud and clear on all points. :) As much as I like to read, I have to wonder how long the batteries would last.

I write gardening articles for the local paper, and dabble with a lot of fiction/children’s stories. No matter how many times I read and re-read them on my puter, they don’t seem “real” until I get my hands on a print copy. LOL

BTW, have a MacBook Pro. I absolutely ADORE my Mac! Wasn’t sure I’d like a laptop at first, either, but mine will have to be pried out of my cold, dead hands. :)

[kdot]

Couple more thing I love about eBook readers:
* can read outside in the sun
* not backlit so no eyestrain
* battery lasts a long time between charges
* uses regular book lights for night reading
* Kindle and Nook don’t require a computer which is great for some users
* made a nice retirement present for my brother
* bookmarks, multiple text sizes

but I’m not selling or trying to convince - just a happy customer.

[Sgt_Schultze]

I’ve heard some college textbook manufacturers making their products available for university use. Are these “e”books similarly priced to the paper versions? Can the “e” variety be resold as used books can be? How about for popular recreational titles?