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E-book or physical book? You may be surprised to hear that for most, old school print on paper still wins.
Physical books continue to outsell e-books due to emotional connection, aesthetics, and reading preferences despite digital convenience.
Key Takeaways
- Physical books remain popular due to their tangible and aesthetic appeal.
- E-books offer convenience and anonymity but have plateaued in sales.
- Bookstores survive by creating welcoming spaces and unique experiences.
- Reading preferences vary by genre and age group.
- The book industry continues evolving but the demand for stories and knowledge persists.
Summary
- Despite digital disruption, 67% of Americans read physical books in 2017 versus 26% for e-books.
- Project Gutenberg pioneered e-books in 1971, but modern e-books gained popularity after Amazon Kindle's 2007 launch.
- Physical books dominate the market with $22 billion in U.S. sales compared to $2 billion for e-books in 2018.
- Print books appeal due to cover design, emotional connection, and home decoration value.
- Different genres perform differently across formats; e.g., children’s books favor print, while fiction like romance thrives on e-readers.
- Bookstores have adapted by emphasizing physical store experiences and curated selections.
- Amazon integrates Kindle data to optimize physical bookstore inventory.
- E-books have helped new authors gain recognition, but some authors resist digitization.
- Younger readers tend to prefer physical books, challenging assumptions about millennials and digital reading.
- The future of books remains strong across formats, focusing on stories and knowledge.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction: Physical Books vs E-books
- 00:20Why People Prefer Print Books
- 00:40History and Evolution of E-books
- 01:10Market Overview and Sales Data
- 02:13Genre Preferences and Emotional Connection
- 03:12Impact on Bookstores and Retail
- 04:19E-books and New Authors
- 05:13Future of Books and Reading Trends
- 05:52Conclusion and Viewer Engagement
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Despite digital media having disrupted many other industries, 67% of Americans had read a physical book in 2017, but only 26% read an e-book.
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So, why do people still prefer print over the convenience of reading on a smartphone, Kindle, or Kobo?
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You might think that electronic books, more commonly known as e-books, are relatively new. But an initiative called Project Gutenberg claims to have started them all the way back in 1971.
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Today, it still publishes books online, focusing on older works where the American copyright has expired so it can offer them for free.
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The modern e-book came around in 2007, when Amazon launched its Kindle in New York.
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It went on sale for $399 and was reported to have sold out in just five and a half hours.
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By 2010, Amazon announced it was selling more e-books than hardcover printed books. At the time, many questioned the future of hardcovers and their relevance in the digital age.
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While the Kindle popularized e-books, the book industry is still dominated by physical versions. I met up with Meryl Halls, managing director of the Booksellers’ Association, to learn why.
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Print’s been incredibly resilient actually. I think the e-book bubble has burst somewhat; the sales are flattening off. I think the physical object is very appealing.
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So the cover designs are often gorgeous; they’re beautiful objects. The book lover loves to have a record of what they’ve read, and it’s about signalling to the rest of the world. It’s about decorating your home.
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In 2018, more than 2.7 billion books in all formats were sold in the U.S., for an estimated net revenue of almost $26 billion for publishers.
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And that’s just the value of all books directly sold by publishers to retailers. Of that amount, around $22 billion worth were printed books, $2 billion were e-books, and $1.2 billion were audiobooks.
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In the U.K. the same year, publishers’ sales of printed and e-books topped $8 billion, with printed books taking $4.5 billion of that.
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Cookbooks are, they’re having a resurgence. Nature writing and nature books are doing incredibly well, and it’s partly the political landscape. People are looking for escape, but they are also looking for information. It’s harder to have an emotional relationship with what you’re reading if it’s on an e-reader.
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It’s obviously cheaper to produce e-books than print copies, but the number of printed books sold by publishers to retailers in the U.S. and U.K. also outstrips the number of downloaded books.
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Even the kind of books people like to read in print versus on an e-reader varies.
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In the U.K., readers prefer fiction categories like crime, thriller, and romance on their e-readers, but children’s books are still dominated by print.
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High-profile launches like Three Women and, of course, the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise have also boosted print sales.
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But one study revealed that readers found it harder to recall the plot details of a short mystery story when they read it on a Kindle, compared to those who read the same story in a paperback book.
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E-books really, a lot of innovation had started in the academic area of publishing, and then of course they came into trade publishing. I believe they started off with romantic fiction and possibly slightly erotic fiction because it was marvelous that you could read that in public totally anonymously.
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Traditional stores took a hit when Amazon started selling printed books online back in 1994.
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In 2011, U.S. chain Borders declared bankruptcy, while Barnes & Noble’s sales have declined steadily for the past six years.
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In 2019, activist investor Elliott Management bought Barnes & Noble. And it also owns this U.K. chain, Waterstones, which has undergone a bit of a revolution in the past few years.
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How have bookshops reacted to Amazon Kindle? Okay, well, I think initially they were frightened and they did try and sell e-books, but I think what they discovered very quickly is that bookshop customers are coming into bookshops for a very particular reason.
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Their shops, their spaces are very welcoming, and people are looking all the time for things to do that are not on screen.
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In 2015, Amazon opened its first physical bookstore in Seattle’s University Village mall, and it now has 19 outlets across the U.S.
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It uses information on Kindle reading habits to inform what it sells. For example, it has an “unputdownable” section in-store, which displays physical copies of books that Kindle readers finish in three days or less.
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E-books have also been a way for new authors to get noticed by mainstream publishers.
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Science fiction writer Hugh Howey published his e-book Wool in 2011. It went on to sell more than 300,000 copies.
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And in 2012, American publisher Simon & Schuster bought the print rights. But not every author is a fan of e-books.
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The Catcher in the Rye author JD Salinger resisted digitizing his novels for years, but in August 2019, his son Mark agreed to publish them as e-books, saying his father wanted to keep his work accessible and affordable.
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So, what’s the future of books, in any format? While millennials get blamed for killing many industries, it’s actually young people that appear to be driving sales of printed books, especially in the U.K.
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Sixty-three percent of physical book sales are to people under the age of 44, while 52% of e-book sales are to those over 45.
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It’s a similar picture in the U.S., where 75% of people aged 18 to 29 claimed to have read a physical book in 2017, higher than the average of 67%.
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People always need knowledge and people always need stories. Will it be the written word, or will it be the spoken word? But it will still be stories, and it will still be knowledge.
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The book, in whatever format, has a strong future. Thanks for watching. To see more of our content, check out the videos on the right.
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And let us know in the comments below if you prefer old-school print or new-school e-books, and don’t forget to subscribe.
Topics:physical bookse-booksKindlebook industryprint vs digitalbookstoresreading habitsAmazonpublishingbook sales
