eBooks are all the rage. The next step in the 500 year history of the book. This is a bold new world and people are confused. The future is not so certain.
- What % of books are currently eBooks? (most put it at 2%).
- What % will it be in a year?
- 2 years? 5 Years? 10 years?
- When will the eBook surpass the pBook? Will it ever happen?
I don’t have the answers. But then no one really does. We all have guesses. We all put the facts together, place our bets and hope we are on the right path. It is important to be engrossed in eBooks, to accept them as another format of reading. If the consumer chooses to read an eBook, why should the publishers refuse to provide?
Too many take too slow a path, too cautious. One day, they will wake up and realize that the readers will have left them. Hopefully it won’t be too late.
“Ten years will pass me by, no one told me when to run, I missed the starting gun.” ——– Time by Pink Floyd.
A interesting side note. This market is nearly impossible to get reliable statistics given the main players are keeping information confidential. I understand their reasoning, but one day it will all be open. Many discussions revolve around the Kindle, Sony Reader and a possible entry by Apple into the mix. That is all great and each has it’s merits. But right now, over 60% of the eBook readers do so on laptops and computers.
