Six Of One…E-Book of Another

Last week, I read a survey that indicated that there is a modest rise in e-books and decline in print books. In some ways, this debate is moot. Obviously, e-books are gaining traction but print books aren’t going to disappear completely. Like my friend Leslie said last week, she likes to have “disposable” books on her kindle and physical books on her shelf.

One of the upshots to e-books is the author’s ability to add content that just wouldn’t work in print (one of my ideas for my book includes demonstrations on how to make cookies). But one of the downsides is that a shelf of books looks much prettier than an e-reader propped up in the corner.

Finally, a survey like this is interesting but a quick read of the fine print is important. The respondent size was very small and is very likely biased by the collection method. Also, I think the researchers tried too hard to make the expansion of e-books related to the age of the reader. I don’t see how that’s relevant when the barriers to using tablets are very, very low.