Everybody’s e-reading

When I read yesterday that Amazon reported selling 143 electronic books for Kindle devices for every 100 hardcover books sold, I wasn't sure what to think. Yes, it shows that people are buying and reading e-books. It also shows that folks are still buying hardcover books.

Like all things Amazon, no specific sales numbers were shared. So, we don't know whether Amazon customers with a history of buying hardcover editions have shifted to e-books, nor do we know anything about the sale of paperback editions at the uberonline bookseller. Amazon won't even share sales figures for their Kindle readers.

What we do know is that Amazon lowered the price of the Kindle 2 reader to $189, from $259. That's a nice discount — 27 percent. We also know that the majority of e-books for the Kindle sell for $9.99, which is also a good markdown from most hardcover books. One can assume the two prices helped drive e-book sales.

I’d like to believe that books aren't going away anytime soon. Printed books have survived every other threat since Gutenberg first cranked his printing press in 1450. The plethora of e-book readers is not so much a challenge as an opportunity; they're a new channel for content that already has an audience. As e-reader prices fall, more people will try them and start to read more books, magazines and newspapers digitally.

News stories today announce that Sharp is entering the e-reader market with two models. See more on this in today's Wall Street Journal: http://bit.ly/bqHs4W

By the time the holiday season comes, consumers will be able to choose from more than a dozen e-readers, ranging from about $100 to the high-end iPad, which is much more than an e-reader. Apple offers readers an extensive iBook catalog that has been one of the iPad’s smash hits so far. It works because it's simple and easy. Just like the Amazon Kindle store.

Hooray for reading and hooray for books, whatever format you like!