Ebooks have drastically changed the publishing industry for everyone from author to reader. It has now been 7 years since the first e-reader came onto the scene but are eBooks here to stay?
Electronic reading has been developed over the past two decades; PDF files by Adobe were introduced in the late 90s (Hall, F. p.31). Sony was the first company to launch an e-reader in 2006, yet is now unheard of, because Kindle (released in 2007) dominated the market share.
‘Sony never offered a compelling reason to buy, there weren’t enough titles and their store was not that easy to use.’ (Alan Siegel cited in Ad Age, 2009). Despite trying to regain market share, it was too much of a struggle, and customers simply weren’t interested, in May 2014, Sony announced the closure of their eBook store and their customers were directed to Kobo. (Sony 2014).
Sony could have battled Kindle through competitive pricing and by offering new products that appeal to their target market, however, having failed this, they have lost their position in the market. Similarly, this situation can be compared to Apple taking over the smartphone market from Blackberry. If Sony decides to re-enter the digital e-reader market in partnership with Kobo, they would have to identify a strong unique selling point, create a successful proto-type and stimulate enough demand through marketing to go up against their strong competitors; Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Nook and Apple.
Due to the e-reader demand excelling, is there a possibility that e-book sales will outsell the paperback?
Hachette, UK EBooks as % of Adult Trade Sales’ (Hachette UK in Publishing Technology, 2014).
The positive correlation shows that eBook sales for Hachette are likely to increase, however I criticise the credibility of these statistics as the graph is from the publisher and not the bookseller, thus not showing the full picture. If these statistics were from Nielsen as opposed to Hachette, it would be more credible.
Pricing of the eBook in comparison to the paperback, is one of the main benefits for the consumer to read digital; Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn-novel, and now movie, outsold the print edition with eBook sales: 1m, and print sales: 900k, in 2012 (Publishers Weekly, 2013).
· Amazon UK, Paperback: £3.85, Kindle: £2.99 (Amazon UK, 2014).
· Barnes and Noble US, Paperback: $12.38, Nook: 8.99 (Barnes and Noble, 2014).
Will pixels continue to outsell print? Tim Waterstone, the founder of Waterstones Bookshops has a contrasting belief that the e-book revolution will go into decline. He states that he has read ‘more garbage about the strength of the eBook revolution than anything I’ve known.’ (Telegraph, 2014). Due to his position, I believe his opinion is bias as Waterstones is largely a bricks and mortar business.
The co-founder of Intel, Gordon Moore believes that the ‘number of transistors on a chip could double every 24 months’ (BBC, 2005). If technology doubles in capacity every 2 years, publishers will be consistently innovating their products to adapt to change.
Word Count: 498
Bibliography
Amazon, (n.d.). Gone Girl: Amazon.co.uk: Gillian Flynn: Books. [Online]. Available at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gone-Girl-Gillian-Flynn/dp/0753827662/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8 [Accessed: 5 October 2014].
Barnes and Noble, (n.d.). Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, [Online]. Available at: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gone-girl-gillian-flynn/1105608095?ean=9780307588364 [Accessed: 5 October 2014].
Bulik, B. (2009). How Sony E-Reader Lost to Kindle and How It’s Battling Its Way Back. Ad Age. [Online]. Available at: http://adage.com/article/digital/sony-e-reader-fighting-amazon-s-kindle-book-dominance/138589/ [Accessed: 5 October 2014].
Furness, H. (2014). Waterstones founder: e-book revolution will soon go into decline. Culture, 31 March, Hannah Furness. [Online]. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10733708/Waterstones-founder-e-book-revolution-will-soon-go-into-decline.html [Accessed: 5 October 2014].
Hall, F. (2013). The context for eBook formats and e-readers. In: The Business Of Digital Publishing: An Introduction To The Digital Book And Journal Industries, United Kingdom: Routledge, p.31
Maryles, D. (2013). The Bestselling E-books of 2012. Publishers Weekly. [Online]. Available at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/56408-the-e-book-explosion-facts-figures-2012.html [Accessed: 5 October 2014].
Sony, (n.d.). Reader Store is Closing. [Online]. Available at: http://ebookstore.sony.com/downpage/grs_down_b.html [Accessed: 5 October 2014d].
Twist, J. with BBC. (2005). Law that has driven digital life. BBC Science/Nature, 18 April, BBC News. [Online]. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4449711.stm [Accessed: 5 October 2014].
Electronic reading has been developed over the past two decades; PDF files by Adobe were introduced in the late 90s (Hall, F. p.31). Sony was the first company to launch an e-reader in 2006, yet is now unheard of, because Kindle (released in 2007) dominated the market share.
‘Sony never offered a compelling reason to buy, there weren’t enough titles and their store was not that easy to use.’ (Alan Siegel cited in Ad Age, 2009). Despite trying to regain market share, it was too much of a struggle, and customers simply weren’t interested, in May 2014, Sony announced the closure of their eBook store and their customers were directed to Kobo. (Sony 2014).
Sony could have battled Kindle through competitive pricing and by offering new products that appeal to their target market, however, having failed this, they have lost their position in the market. Similarly, this situation can be compared to Apple taking over the smartphone market from Blackberry. If Sony decides to re-enter the digital e-reader market in partnership with Kobo, they would have to identify a strong unique selling point, create a successful proto-type and stimulate enough demand through marketing to go up against their strong competitors; Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Nook and Apple.
Due to the e-reader demand excelling, is there a possibility that e-book sales will outsell the paperback?
Hachette, UK EBooks as % of Adult Trade Sales’ (Hachette UK in Publishing Technology, 2014).
The positive correlation shows that eBook sales for Hachette are likely to increase, however I criticise the credibility of these statistics as the graph is from the publisher and not the bookseller, thus not showing the full picture. If these statistics were from Nielsen as opposed to Hachette, it would be more credible.
Pricing of the eBook in comparison to the paperback, is one of the main benefits for the consumer to read digital; Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn-novel, and now movie, outsold the print edition with eBook sales: 1m, and print sales: 900k, in 2012 (Publishers Weekly, 2013).
· Amazon UK, Paperback: £3.85, Kindle: £2.99 (Amazon UK, 2014).
· Barnes and Noble US, Paperback: $12.38, Nook: 8.99 (Barnes and Noble, 2014).
Will pixels continue to outsell print? Tim Waterstone, the founder of Waterstones Bookshops has a contrasting belief that the e-book revolution will go into decline. He states that he has read ‘more garbage about the strength of the eBook revolution than anything I’ve known.’ (Telegraph, 2014). Due to his position, I believe his opinion is bias as Waterstones is largely a bricks and mortar business.
The co-founder of Intel, Gordon Moore believes that the ‘number of transistors on a chip could double every 24 months’ (BBC, 2005). If technology doubles in capacity every 2 years, publishers will be consistently innovating their products to adapt to change.
Word Count: 498
Bibliography
Amazon, (n.d.). Gone Girl: Amazon.co.uk: Gillian Flynn: Books. [Online]. Available at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gone-Girl-Gillian-Flynn/dp/0753827662/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8 [Accessed: 5 October 2014].
Barnes and Noble, (n.d.). Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, [Online]. Available at: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gone-girl-gillian-flynn/1105608095?ean=9780307588364 [Accessed: 5 October 2014].
Bulik, B. (2009). How Sony E-Reader Lost to Kindle and How It’s Battling Its Way Back. Ad Age. [Online]. Available at: http://adage.com/article/digital/sony-e-reader-fighting-amazon-s-kindle-book-dominance/138589/ [Accessed: 5 October 2014].
Furness, H. (2014). Waterstones founder: e-book revolution will soon go into decline. Culture, 31 March, Hannah Furness. [Online]. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10733708/Waterstones-founder-e-book-revolution-will-soon-go-into-decline.html [Accessed: 5 October 2014].
Hall, F. (2013). The context for eBook formats and e-readers. In: The Business Of Digital Publishing: An Introduction To The Digital Book And Journal Industries, United Kingdom: Routledge, p.31
Maryles, D. (2013). The Bestselling E-books of 2012. Publishers Weekly. [Online]. Available at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/56408-the-e-book-explosion-facts-figures-2012.html [Accessed: 5 October 2014].
Sony, (n.d.). Reader Store is Closing. [Online]. Available at: http://ebookstore.sony.com/downpage/grs_down_b.html [Accessed: 5 October 2014d].
Twist, J. with BBC. (2005). Law that has driven digital life. BBC Science/Nature, 18 April, BBC News. [Online]. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4449711.stm [Accessed: 5 October 2014].