Friday, May 20, 2011

Amazon's New Milestone

I have just seen this piece in the Daily Telegraph reporting that Amazon's e-book sales on the Kindle have surpassed printed titles. It is important not to stretch the meaning of this because it has just happened but it surely marks a new milestone. More importantly, publishers must now confront the new economics of digital books and preparation of marketing and pricing models are bound to change.

One also sees that the initiative is passing from the control of the publishers towards the book stores on the one hand and the readers. I am uncertain about what this interesting fact means for distribution but I am still upset that certain book titles are not released worldwide. Often the problem is that publishers have not worked out a way for universal release. It is difficult to imagine that with e-readers gaining widespread use, the printed books will regain dominance but one can still state the cliche that the printed book will still be here.   

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