The use of electronic reading devices has grown exponentially over the past several years. It’s a medium that no author should overlook.
Between 2009 and 2010, eBook sales grew by 177%. At that time, only 3-5% of book sales were in eFormat.1
Harris Polls reported in 2010 that only 8% of 2,775 adults surveyed used an e-reader. A year later that number had changed to 15%.2
The same poll indicates that at least 15% of those who didn’t already own an e-reading device, such as the Kindle, were planning on purchasing one within the next six months.
One of the interesting benefits of eBook portability may be reflected in another trend that Harris noticed. Owners of e-readers are more likely to read and purchase more books than their hard-print reading friends.
Harris Poll isn’t the only one finding this trend either. Marketing and Research Resources Inc. reports that 40% of the e-reader owners they surveyed claim to be reading more than they did before their purchase. Market & Research Resources looked at Sony Reader, iPad and Kindle.3
Amazon reports that regular customers increase their book purchases on Amazon after they purchase a Kindle—3.3 times more purchases, and this was before Kindle prices started to drop.
Here are some additional statistics from Amazon:
- The number of titles available on Kindle are growing rapidly. It was 700,000 in 2010. Now the number is pushing 1.5 million.
- Amazon sold 1.43 more Kindle books than hardcover books in 2010. That was 124 million eBooks.
- Kindle books sales more than doubled to 314 million in 2011. And estimates for 2012 are that 752 million eBooks will sell through Amazon.4
Some of this growth can be attributed to the upgrades Kindle has made to it’s reader.
- Second generation and third generation readers allow users to highlight as they read.
- Notes are relatively easy to insert once the function is learned.
- Any book becomes an audio book. The inflection isn’t as good as the natural human voice, yet many owners find this feature very functional.
- Facebook and Twitter sharing is possible on WiFi enabled Kindles.
Finally, here’s one last reason you should have your book on Kindle. Amazon controlled 62% of the entire book market in 2010. This was before the launch of CreateSpace. That share is growing! In fact, one of of five of the people who buy Kindle books, don’t own a Kindle.
If you haven’t converted your book to Kindle, you need to. Don’t miss out on an important revenue stream.
1 http://greensborolibrary.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/the-future-of-ebooks-in-libraries-the-coming-revolution-for-the-book/
2 http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/mid/1508/articleId/864/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/Default.aspx
3 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575448093175758872.html
4 http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/07/kindle-10-percent-sales-amazon/
