Of interest?

dick · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2252

An interesting article--"Is This the End of Books?"--is in the Guardian today.

Cora · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Posts: 1088 Location: Bremen, Germany

The article in question can be found here by the way, if anyone doesn't feel like clicking through that Guardian website.

I find it a bit overly alarmistic. e-books and e-readers are great (disclosure: I've published some e-books myself). But I still read about 90 percent print books and that's not going to change anytime soon. I believe that e-books and print books will reach some kind of equilibrium in the next few years.

Besides, while in the US the market share of e-books is around 15% to 20%, depending on who you talk to, it's much lower in many other countries. In the Netherlands it's 1.7%, which is actually one of the higher figures for Western Europe. In Germany it's around 0.5% and has been for two years or so.
_________________
http://corabuhlert.com
http://pegasus-pulp.com

Charlotte McClain · Joined: 04 Oct 2008 Posts: 392 Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE

It strikes me as a bit alarmist too. I like both ebooks and print books both. People are not going to stop reading print books because ebooks are available just like people have not stopped going outside because they can sit inside and watch documentaries on television. What amuses me is how defensive both sides can get. On another forum I'm on someone asked for ideas for ads to answer the cool ereader ads (Kindle maybe?) that are on now. The whole thread ended up being about how ereaders really are better. It was funny.
_________________
Angsty romance with scattered humor.
My Faux Website