Book sales in the United Kingdom decreased by 5.4% last year, which has put a stop to the growth that has been occurring since 2014. In 2017 book sales were £3.11 billion and in 2018 total sales were £2.95 billion. These figures are from the UK Publishers Association, which published its annual yearbook. One of the reasons why print books are falling is due to the interest … [Read more...] about UK ebook sales have increased by 5% in 2018
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When our ebooks stop working
One of the great pitfalls of buying ebooks is that there is no true sense of ownership. This is quite evident when Microsoft decided to close their digital bookstore last month and customers will be losing all access to everything they purchased and free books sometime in July. Sure lots of ebook stores have closed over the years such as the Sony Reader Store and Nook UK, but … [Read more...] about When our ebooks stop working
The ALA is taking the high prices of ebooks to the US Congress
Canadian libraries have been complaining for years about the draconian prices publishers charge for ebooks. They often have to pay 500% above the retail cost just for a single use book to loan out to one customer at a time. Many publishers have also revised their business models too, instead of an ebook being valid on a perpetual basis, they now expire after two years. Canadian … [Read more...] about The ALA is taking the high prices of ebooks to the US Congress
Canadian ebook sales represent 17% of total book sales
Canadians tend to be enamoured with the print format and over the past three years there has been little change. Paperback books represent 49% of all purchases, which is slightly down from 54% in 2016. Meanwhile hardcover sales have increased and now represent 26% of total sales, which is up from from 24% in 2016). Digital books have fluctuated from 17% in 2016 to 19% in … [Read more...] about Canadian ebook sales represent 17% of total book sales
Canadian library users are book buyers
Canadians who both buy and borrow books purchase more books, on average per month, than buyers who don't use the library at all. According to a new BookNet Canada study, Borrow, Buy, Read: Library Use and Book Buying in Canada, those who had both borrowed a book from a library and purchased one in the last year purchased an average of 3.0 books per month, whereas those who had … [Read more...] about Canadian library users are book buyers
The best large screen e-Readers for reading ebooks
There has been a growing movement in the e-reader industry to embrace large screens on an e-reader. Most of these products are relatively expensive, because they have WACOM screen and come with a stylus to take digital notes or to freehand draw. Most of them focus on editing PDF files and reading ebooks is just something they do. What if you want a large screen just to read … [Read more...] about The best large screen e-Readers for reading ebooks
Are Unlimited ebook subscription services viable in 2019?
Many people purchase ebooks from their favorite retailer or borrow them from the public library. A small majority of people happily pirate them. There is an alternative to all of these things, unlimited ebook subscription services. Is there a future this business model? There are only a small handful of companies that participate in the unlimited model. Kindle Unlimited, … [Read more...] about Are Unlimited ebook subscription services viable in 2019?
This is the big reason why we don’t own ebooks
Digital books have been available to mainstream consumers for the past ten years. Prior to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and other platforms, authors sold PDF files online online or a myriad of other proprietary formats. Whenever you purchase an ebooks from a major retailer, you do not own it, instead you are licensing it. If a retailer goes bankrupt or shutterers their … [Read more...] about This is the big reason why we don’t own ebooks
EL James Has a New Book Out and We Only Have Ourselves to Blame
It was bad enough when billionaire Christian Grey had his violent way with recent-teenager Anastasia Steele. The 50 Shades trilogy showed that there are no limits to how much book fans are willing to consume, and that self-published Twilight fan fiction could potentially take off in a traditionally-published way. But somewhere between they hype surrounding the movie … [Read more...] about EL James Has a New Book Out and We Only Have Ourselves to Blame
Ebooks are experiencing a crisis of confidence
A few weeks ago Microsoft closed their digital bookstore and customers have lost access to all of the ebooks they paid for. This is not a small startup, where people throw their hands up in the air and exclaim "oh well." Microsoft is an established giant and the fact that they failed at ebooks proves that Amazon dominates the entire US market and it is impossible to compete … [Read more...] about Ebooks are experiencing a crisis of confidence
You can send ebooks to your Kindle with Alexa
Amazon has just unveiled new functionality to add or delete audiobooks and ebooks on your Kindle e-reader using Alexa. This system is setting the stage for eventually incorporating Alexa into the Kindle in a more meaningful way. I think this new Alexa functionality will be best used for deleting content on your Kindle. There is no easy way to delete samples or things you … [Read more...] about You can send ebooks to your Kindle with Alexa