Forrester: ebooks to hit $1 billion in sales this year

[Matthew DeCarlo]

According to Forrester, ebook sales will reach nearly $1 billion in the US this year. That figure that will triple by 2015, at which point the industry will be "forever altered" the researcher said. Although most people still borrow books from a friend or the library, about 7% of 4,000 online adults read ebooks. While that may sound small, those individuals happen to read and spend the most on books.

"We have plenty of room to grow beyond the 7% that read ebooks today and, once they get the hang of it, ebook readers quickly shift a majority of their book reading to a digital form," said Forrester. The average ebook reader already consumes 41% of their books in digital form, and that's folks without a dedicated e-reader. Those with a Kindle or similar device read 66% of their books digitally.

Despite exploding sales, dedicated ebook readers aren't the most popular way to consume digital books. The study found that 35% of people who read ebooks do so on a notebook. Amazon's Kindle follows in second place at 32%, while the Apple iPhone, Sony eReader, and netbooks occupy the remaining top five spots. How frequently do you buy digital books and what's your preferred reading device?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/41063-forrester-ebooks-to-hit-1-billion-in-sales-this-year.html

 

[klepto12]

i for one haven't jumped on the read a book on this screen wagon lol what happened to a good old book? i guess ebooks make it easier to find what you need and they are never sold out lol if i were to read them it would be on a kindle more than likely or the sony ereader.

 

[Recipe7]

I am with you klepto. First of all, I don't even read many books, not enough to justifiy an ebook =D

 

[TomSEA]

No Kindle for me yet, thanks. I'm an avid reader and knock out at least one book a week, but I'm perfectly happy with purchasing discount books. I know I'd break or lose one of these within a week of buying one anyway. You drop a paperback while soaking in the tub it's no big deal. But a $200 Kindle? Those things don't float so well.

 

[klepto12]

TomSEA said:
No Kindle for me yet, thanks. I'm an avid reader and knock out at least one book a week, but I'm perfectly happy with purchasing discount books. I know I'd break or lose one of these within a week of buying one anyway. You drop a paperback while soaking in the tub it's no big deal. But a $200 Kindle? Those things don't float so well.

lol we should make a water proof one

 

[UT66]

Paper i more versatile: i can pain it, read it, wrap it, burn it, clean my ----- with it, and use it for shelter and even cooking. ( yes im homeless) so limited functionality is limited. maybe when they get thinner, and a lot cheaper, as in free.

 

[DSparil]

Books are nice but I'd rather watch a video instead.

 

[crazyboy88]

klepto12 said:
i for one haven't jumped on the read a book on this screen wagon lol what happened to a good old book? i guess ebooks make it easier to find what you need and they are never sold out lol if i were to read them it would be on a kindle more than likely or the sony ereader.

I totally agree on the good old book part, but my main problem is I have to pay the same amount for a e-book and a paperback. E-book is totally not worth the same as a paper back

 

[ET3D]

Paper books are often cheaper than their electronic counterparts. More important to me, they have better availability. A lot of e-books are region limited, and I can't buy them. On the other hand I can order any paper book I want from Amazon or B&N.

I was an early adopter of e-books, and I have a reader (a Cybook Opus currently), but I no longer buy e-books because the market has deteriorated. Unfortunately most people don't care that they'll no longer be able to buy the book if they switch readers, that they've lost some of the things they could do with a paper book, and certainly they don't care (and probably don't know) about the inability of people in other countries to buy these books.

 

[fpsgamerJR62]

In my opinion, nothing beats reading a good paperback novel. Technology might have the advantage of letting us organize our books more easily and efficiently but for reading, my eyes prefer paper over any form of electronic display.

 

[bam13]

I don´t know, this whole e-book reader device concept looks totally useless to me, I read my e-books on iPhone and it works just fine, plus I can do million other things with it...I´d say that smartphones and tablets are much better choice than e-book reader

 

[taea00]

I think e-books seem like a useful device, but they're too limited in what they're able to do. I'm waiting for them to have more uses than just reading books or newspapers before I pick one up. Even then I'd still prefer hard copies of some books. There's nothing like holding a book in your hands imo.

 

[aalsheh]

I need to kill a tree, so no ebook

on a serious note, I'm thinking of one. was going to jump on the iPad wagon, but let's face it, knowing it's Apple there'll be a new iPad soon

 

[Demons]

I prefer audio books during my work commute. I have been thinking about a kindle. My brother has one and he has been very happy with it. I do have an iphone and have downloaded a few of the free classics but it is a very small screen to be reading something for a long time.

 

[zogo]

Nothing better from a real book in your hands. And I love searching the book that is very hard to find. It's interesting, like putting yourself in a searching quest

 

[hassaan]

E-readers will probably never truly replace textbooks simply because you can't easily navigate through pages, chunks at a time, or scan through things manually. You get a search feature, bookmarks, and other nifty tools but it's a lot simpler doing it by hand.

 

[Guest]

I disagree... from my perspective an ebook is worth more because it can be read on future ebook readers, doesn't take up physical space, and never gets worn out. The media world is changing. Who needs a Blue Ray when you can have a digital library?

 

[fritz123]

i like reading books better. its easier to move it around. and it just has that certain "feel" from it that i cant get in ebooks. i wont be buying a kindle anytime soon. one thing i hate in ebooks is the eye-strain. my eyes cant take more than a few hours of looking at a screen. that's bad news for me though.