People in the UK are starting to get into e-books, as e-book sales have been soaring as of late in the UK. According to the Publishers Association, sales for e-books and audio books in 2010 in the “general titles” category shot up from £4m to £16m. This category covers novels and consumer titles.
Print Media Still Going Strong
While this figure it an impressive one, academic and professional books are still dominant for digital sales, reaching £180m last year. Total book sales in the UK are at £3.1bn, showing that while e-book sales have increased, they still have a long way to go. Certainly, the figures do show that e-readers like the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader are starting to make an impact and to be seen more frequently on the UK scene.
Richard Mollet, the chief executive of the Publishers Association said that, “Digital publishing is growing at an impressive rate in whichever part of the sector you choose to look.” Reassuring those who worry about the demise of the print medium, Mollet said that the traditional print book market remains extremely high and that the figures suggest that the two mediums will co-exist in the future.
E-Books Versus Print Media
While the sale of e-books lags far behind that of traditional books in the UK, this is not the case in the US. There, electronic books sold more than either hardback books or paperbacks in February of 2011.
Time will tell if the UK will continue adding to its e-book interest and if this medium will gain the type of momentum and popularity that it has in the US – it seems to be a pretty safe bet to say that it will.