Tag Archives: eBooks
Do We Really Get What We’re Reading?
While e-books have yet to replace print books in terms of sales (and incidentally, growth in sales seems to have slowed in recent years), they are a fixture in the marketplace and not going anywhere. Some people love them and some … Continue reading
Amazon: Only the End of the Funnel?
Over the past few months, I’ve been following some of the research on how people find and buy books (see here and here and here, if interested). All this research is interesting from the social science perspective, but it’s also … Continue reading
Ebooks Changing the Way We Use Libraries
I finished reading the Pew Report Younger Americans’ Reading and Library Habits some time ago. I posted a few thoughts on the report several months ago (here and here), but I never got around to posting my final thoughts. In addition to … Continue reading
The State of Brick-and-Mortar Bookstores
Last year, Borders Books, the second largest bookseller in the U.S., closed its doors. Their inability to compete with large online retailers such as Amazon was the primary reason cited for their bankruptcy. When Borders went under, many industry experts … Continue reading
Rumors of More Mergers
Publishing industry experts were saying that the merger of big six publishers Penguin and Random House in October was likely the first of several. It looks like they may have been correct. News Corp., the owner of publishing giant Harper Collins … Continue reading
How Readers Discover and Procure Books
The last few weeks, I’ve been slowly working my way through the Pew Research Center report Younger Americans’ Reading and Library Habits (which is sad because it’s a short report). The report has a chapter dedicated to how people discover and where … Continue reading
“Big 6” Now “Bigger 5”
On Monday, Penguin Books and Random House, two of the Big 6 publishers, announced they were merging in order to better compete in the global marketplace. The new company, to be called Penguin Random House, will become the largest book publishing … Continue reading
Who’s Reading My Book and How Did They Find It?
Since I started writing for publication, I’ve become more interested in the reading habits of the public. In June, I looked at sales figures for ebooks versus books from traditional publishers. I’ve also explored the correlation between religion and speculative fiction. … Continue reading
Ebook Sales Soaring in 2012
It’s not new news that ebook sales are growing faster than sales of traditional paper book. Yet for the first time, ebook sales have exceeded hardcover sales; first quarter (2012) ebook sales were $282 million compared to $230 million for hardcover … Continue reading
Publishers to Drop Anti-Piracy Technology
Tor and Baen books, two major publishers of speculative fiction, have decided to drop DRM technology from future e-books. DRM, or Digital Rights Management, is an approach used by publishers to control the use of e-books and limit copyright infringement, a.k.a. … Continue reading
D. Thomas Minton 