A report from the BBC in May 2013
labelled book sales as rising. In 2012, sales were up 66%, with
fiction e-reading growing even faster, up 149%. Sales for the
physical book did fall, but only by 1% and in some genres, such as
children's and non-fiction books (especially cook books), sales for the physical copy
actually rose.
It was
said that only 3% of children's books are read on a screen. Why? Well, surely an ebook must pale in comparison to the physical copy of a
children's book. For example, children's books are typically of a larger size than
the average book, so that children can see more clearly and find
images amongst the pages. Colour is also very important and, up until
recently, many ebooks were formatted in black-and-white. Matt
Peckham says, "As
I’ve come to understand with my nine-month-old — [physical books]
can just as often be “read” with one’s mouth as one’s fingers
(a definite no-no when it comes to our tablets and smartphones)”.
It
is true that children's book make the most of physicality –
including “pop-ups”, wheels to turn, flaps to open etc. - in
their pages and cover and this is something that the ebook can simply
not replicate. If more books made the use of their physicality,
perhaps we would see a further rise in physical copies in the next
few years.
References:
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