Hasta La Gadget!

The Association of American Publishers recently released figures for the past year ending in January 2011, and the results are startling: eBooks have taken off in a large way, with sales of eBooks from various book stores doubling year-over-year from January 2010; close to 115%. The report also cast gloom over sales of traditional paper books, which declined approximately 30% over the same period. Hardcover sales were the biggest loss, dropping over 11% from January 2010 to January 2011. 

That all sounds fairly remarkable, but it’s also important to note that while the eBook market is now a $70 million dollar industry, traditional paper books are no slouch, coming in at just under $50 million, even though fewer people are buying them overall and are moving to electronic formats. 

Back in January we noted that eBooks were outselling paperback books, and last summer we noted that eBooks were starting to outsell hardcovers at Amazon. The trend doesn’t appear to be slowing down considering the explosion of tablet devices, stand-alone, and eBook apps and download services on the market. There will likely always be a place to traditional paper books, but you have to wonder where that place will eventually be.