Friday, May 20, 2011

Kindle Sales Are Soaring!

I read an interesting on-line article today in which Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos is quoted as saying they are now selling more e-books than print or hardback combined.

“Customers are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books,” says Bezos. “We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined it would happen this quickly—we’ve been selling print books for fifteen years and Kindle books for less than four years.”


This coincidentally happened the same week that I “caved” and bought my second Kindle, as my son had commandeered my first one. (I’m not really complaining! I had been wanting to buy the Kindle 3 for ages, and this gave me the excuse.)

Both Kelly and I--while retaining our love and support of paperbound books--bought Kindles a while back, and were excited to get on the e-bandwagon with our YA novels. My books, How to Hook a Hottie, The ABC’s of Kissing Boys, and Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress are available through Random House Digital, Inc., and Kelly’s Graffiti Girl is sold through Simon and Shuster Digital Sales.

So tell us, do you have a Kindle, Nook or e-reader? How do you like it? And how do you feel about this news from Amazon?

9 fresh comments:

Vanessa Barneveld said...

Hi, Tina and Kelly! Amazing that e-book sales are outstripping paper books already. But with the recent explosion of e-readers and tablet computers, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

I have Kindle and iBooks apps on my iPhone. I've read a couple of novels, plus my works-in-progress on the phone while commuting. Waning battery time and screen-fatigue made me long for a good old-fashioned paperback. However, my hubby has an iPad and someday, if he ever stops using it for an hour or two, I'd love to cozy up on the couch and read a book on it without squinting.

We Heart YA said...

Have a Kindle and love it! I'm impressed by how quickly ebooks have grown, but there's still a lot of work to do, a lot of people who wouldn't touch an ebook with a ten-foot pole. And I'm not saying everyone has to, but I do think we need to get rid of this fear and this either/or mentality. Ebooks and physical books can work together! They both just want to give us good stories, after all.

LM Preston said...

I have a nook and love it! Also noticed tons of readers and reading being done on electronic devices on my last trip at the airport.

mariska said...

I don't have kindle nor any e-reader. Living outside the us make me more difficult to buy (it's in dollars, and i don't have dollars :)) to buy.

so, i still prefer the paper books with author signed. very precious !

TinaFerraro said...

Mariska, you make a wonderful point about author signatures! I love signed books, too! When I was at the Romantic Times Convention in Los Angeles this year, I watched Simone Elkeles sign a reader's e-reader with a shiny felt tip marker. I think that's the new direction there!

brendajean said...

I have an ipad that has both the nook and kindle reading apps on it. I love to have a variety of books on hand in case I'm just not in the mood for one at the time. I am not surprised about ereader sales- our world has become a fast information hit, and move on place. I will always cherish a signed book that I can hold in my hot little hand, give it a little hug goodnight when it makes me happy, and share it with a friend:)

Ms. Yingling said...

I prefer the Nook because I can check out EPub versions from the library. I don't see how either will work well for schools, since both are so dependent on the device being linked to a charge card. We shall see. I've been preparing, but it will be a while in libraries. I use my Nook mainly for titles from Net Galley.

TinaFerraro said...

At last the blogger is working again!

BrendaJean, I agree with you so much about the versatility of an e-reader. For instance, right now I'm reading a YA and an adult autobiography and it's great to get to change at will!

TinaFerraro said...

Mrs. Yingling, that's a great perspective about e-publications from libraries. And may I ask, do they expire? Somehow there has to be an end-date, right?