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Ebook Sales Surpass Book Sales as the New Year Approaches

Burn the Books: Make Way for E-Content

By IGI Global on Dec 21, 2012
Dominant E-Content: Ebook Sales Surpass Book SalesWhat’s the big item on Christmas lists this year? A survey taken by digitalunite.com showed that 70% of gift givers are planning to buy an electronic tablet this holiday season. It is estimated that around 32 million tablets will be sold in 2012, almost double that of last year. In turn, sales of physical books are decreasing. The Association of American Publishers reported that in the first quarter of 2012, adult eBook sales were up $25.3 million over hardcover book sales. In last year's first quarter, hardcover sales accounted for $223 million in sales, while eBooks logged $220.4 million. (http://publishers.org/press/68/).

"The book is obsolete," theorist and author of The Medium is the Message, Marshall McLuhan, said as early as the 60s. Since then, media is being progressively transferred into digital format. This merge enables a new portability and accessibility to a large amount of data at any time. Ebooks boast numerous other benefits such as:

- Easy Searchability: Though a book’s table of contents and index offers tools for searching text, finding a particular statement or term among hundreds of pages or books could prove a substantial challenge in traditional print materials.

- Enhanced User Experience: Electronic content offers the possibility of supplemental audio and visual elements. And though nothing can update material in print besides a reprint; updated versions of electronic content can be automatically downloaded. One might equally value the paper saved by eBooks.

- Convenience: EBooks enable users to read in the dark, and they take up the space of one volume while holding a library of resources. Users can instantly access content and purchase resources.

Adversely, eBooks are still somewhat more expensive than books. Electronic tablets require a power source, and low batteries or technical glitches can steal away your libraries in an instant. Not all content is yet available in electronic format, and content can be dictated by the supplier; deleted or locked away by Digital Rights Management. In a survey posted on mashable.com, 69% of participants said that printed books remain the best for sharing, and 81% said regular books are best when reading to a child. There are some things you simply cannot replace with electronics. Books are a part of our history, and they will never disappear. But the possibilities of new technologies like eBooks should be taken advantage of and used to their full potential.

Marshall McLuhan continued in his statement on the extinction of books: "I believe that artists, in all media, respond soonest to the challenges of new pressures...They show us ways of living with new technology without destroying earlier forms and achievements.”

You can find more information on eBooks and their functionalities in the chapter “E-Books: Reader, Librarian, and Publisher Perspectives” in the book Design, Development, and Management of Resources for Digital Library Services. This book, edited by Tariq Ashraf and Puja Anand Gulati of the University of New Delhi, is a premier reference in IGI Global’s Advancements in Library Information Series (ALIS). This series is comprised of high-quality research-oriented publications on developments and trends affecting public, school, academic and specialized libraries and librarians around the world. For more information, visit the IGI Global ALIS Series webpage.

The ALIS Series is one of the many segmented products composing the IGI Global e-resources collection. These databases provide cutting-edge research in information/computer science and technology applied to business and public administration, engineering, education, medical science and healthcare, and social science. Broken into publication type: books, journals, and cases; or themed collections such as disciplines and subjects, InfoSci® Databases can provide the precise information you seek, in an easily deliverable electronic format or physical publication. View the IGI Global e-resources page for more information.
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Database TechnologiesEducationHuman Aspects of TechnologyLibrary Information SystemsMobile ComputingBooks & E-BooksChaptersInfoSci-DatabasesNorth America

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