E-Book Sales Continue To Climb

According to the International Digital Publishing Forum (idpf) and the Association of American Publishers (AAP), E-Book sales have continued to show growth in an overall struggling industry, with more than 200% increase compared to last year.

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Trade E-Book sales were $12,100,000 for April, a 228.3% increase over April 2008 ($3,700,000). Calendar Year to Date sales are up + 154.8% Interesting to note it wasn?t until Q3 2008 that any quarter surpassed the $12,000,000 mark when total Q3 sales reached $13,900,000. Previous high for any single month was March 2009 with wholesale trade sales of $10,000,000

View the complete statistics, historical data and information about the numbers here.

These figures only show part of the picture (see below) however they are extremely encouraging and tend to confirm that E-Books are finally coming into their own.

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Please keep in mind the following: * This data represents United States revenues only * This data represents only trade eBook sales via wholesale channels. Retail numbers may be as much as double the above figures due to industry wholesale discounts. * This data represents only data submitted from approx. 12 to 15 trade publishers * This data does not include library, educational or professional electronic sales * The numbers reflect the wholesale revenues of publishers * The definition used for reporting electronic book sales is “All books delivered electronically over the Internet OR to hand-held reading devices” * The IDPF and AAP began collecting data together starting in Q1 2006

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Amazon Kindle DX Coming This Summer for $489

Hot on the heels of the Kindle 2, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled an extra-large e-reader today, dubbed the Kindle DX. The 18.4-ounce device is intended to give users a reading experience closer to paper, with a 9.7-inch screen that measures 8.5 x 11 inches — 2.5 times the size of Kindle 2′s display.

This latest e-reader has a new trick — its screen can auto-rotate, so when you turn the Kindle DX on its side, an accelerometer will flip your page 90 degrees. It can now directly handle PDF files, with no need to convert them into Amazon’s proprietary format. Also new is the ability to control the line length, making the margins wider or thinner with just a few clicks. Capacity has been jacked to 4GB, though there’s still no slot for a flash-memory card. Like the Kindle 2, the DX has 3G wireless connectivity for getting content wherever you are, and the E Ink screen consumes no power except when flipping pages.

At the same time, Amazon just made a deal with three major textbook publishers to provide content for the Kindle DX: Pearson, Cengage, and Wiley. Also, five universities have agreed to pilot the DX in the fall, including Princeton, Pace and Case Western Reserve. On the newspaper front, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe plan to partner with Amazon to sell the Kindle DX at a reduced price in exchange for a subscription contract.

Shipping sometime this summer, the Kindle DX is available for pre-order today for $489.

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The Lord Of The Rings Now Available On Kindle Through Amazon

Amazon now has available The Lord of the Rings (Trilogy) for the kindle.  Published on April 19, 2009 by Harper Collins e-books, this digital download contains the original trilogy written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The original series was first published in 1954 and has since been reprinted in many languages and has seen millions of copies in print form.

It has now been translated into digital form for the Kindle and is available for the Kindle through Amazon.com.

The Lord of the Rings (Trilogy)

World Book Day : 23rd April

World Book Day is coming up on the 23 April. This international event organised by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) got its start in Spain in 1923, where the commemoration of Miguel de Cervantes’ death by local booksellers combined with the celebration of St. George’s Day to create a new traditional exchange of flowers and… books.

The intent of World Book Day according to the UNESCO :
By celebrating this Day throughout the world, UNESCO seeks to promote reading, publishing and the protection of intellectual property through copyright.

MR member Saladdin proposes we try to think of ways to make ebooks part of the celebration : for example, going back to the original Catalan tradition of booksellers offering a rose for every book purchased, and florists giving a small book with every rose purchased, and men offering roses to women who reply with a book, he proposes that we might give virtual roses for ebook purchases, or perhaps we could send e-roses to authors we appreciate (provided their work is available as ebooks, obviously ! ). Sounds like a nice idea to me !

So, how will you celebrate World Book Day ?

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