Business & Personal Finance

For the first time ever, e-book sales surpassed paperback and hard-cover book sales in the U.S. during February 2011. 

The Association of American Publishers' sales report dated April 14, 2011 states "e-Books ranked as the #1 format among all categories of Trade publishing (Adult Hardcover, Adult Paperback, Adult Mass Market, Children's/Young Adult Hardcover, Children's/Young Adult Paperback)"  It further states "E-Book sales were $90.3 Million, growing 202.3% vs February 2010."  Click HERE to view.

Indeed, a growing number of articles report on e-books' increasing popularity and its affect on the book publishing industry.  E-books can no longer be considered as a passing fad.

Margaret Wente, columnist, recently wrote an interesting article entitled "Like It or Not, the Book is Dead" published in The Globe and Mail on November 16, 2010. p. A.19.  She states, "the physical book is going the way of the vinyl record and the roll of film… One expert, quoted in the New York Times, predicts that, within a decade, fewer than 25 per cent of all books sold will still be print on paper."

People appear to be embracing the change from print to digital format.  E-books are less expensive. Margaret Wente writes "Buy a Kobo e-reader for $98, which is no more than the cost of three or four print-on-paper books, and download The Sentimentalists for $14.95.  If it turns out to be a stinker, don't throw your e-reader across the room.  It's already pre-loaded with a hundred other books…" 

E-books are also available at public library web sites for free.  Public libraries have been building e-book collections over the past few years.  Click HERE to view e-books from the Toronto Public Library (an active Toronto Public Library card is needed for access).

Another article by Laura Jofre entitled "The Toughest Goodbye : De-cluttering Bookshelves and Purging Old Books can be Daunting" indicates possible reasons for e-books' popularity.  Print books are:

• unwieldy after years of accumulation
• heavy and must be taken to a used bookstore or location, if accepted
• difficult to donate since retirement homes, libraries, and day care centres tend to turn used books away

Click HERE to view the original article.

For more information on e-books and changes to the book publishing industry, check out the following titles at the Toronto Public Library:

Gomez, Jeff.  Print is Dead : Books in Our Digital Age.  London ; New York : Macmillan, 2008.  Click HERE for details.

Striphas, Theodore G.  The Late Age of Print : Everyday Book Culture from Consumerism to Control.  New York : Columbia University Press, c2009.  Click HERE for details.

For industry overviews, search the Business & Company Resource Center database with the keywords Electronic Publishing and/or Book Publishing under the Advanced Search tab.  Change Content Area to Industry Overviews and then click on Search. An active Toronto Public Library card is needed for access.  Click HERE to search.

For articles, try searching 'E-books AND Electronic publishing' or 'E-books AND Publishing industry' in the Canadian Business & Current Affairs database.  An active Toronto Public Library card is needed for access.  Click HERE to search.

or try the following subject searches 'Book Publishing', 'E-Books', 'Electronic Publishing' or 'Publishing Industry' in Canadian Periodicals Index (CPI.Q).  An active Toronto Public Library card is needed for access.  Click HERE to search.