Helping bookstore earnings over Christmas 2008 is an exciting first-time phenomenon:
All the major chains are selling a new kind of book gift. It is not printed, it is an Electronic Reader.
The last two weeks of November saw a surge in their sales, and December has opened with a promise of the trend continuing. These appliances vary in brand, price and function, but all enhance the pleasure and convenience of a good read. And, furthermore, they guarantee access to low-cost ebooks.
This last fact is the Merry Christmas motivation for ebook publishers, who anticipate an increase in demand for quality digital content.
This is the first Christmas that consumers have been offered such a wide choice of digital reading devices. The major publishers have recognized this by initiating digital versions of their bestsellers in recent months.
The number of ebook titles has grown in the build-up to Christmas, when bookshops traditionally make a quarter of their annual turnover.
Previously, digital titles have not seriously entered the profit equation, but do so now because, at last, this season, they can be read in the same comfort as a paperback or hardback.
Trade statistics for 2008 (American Publishers Association)report a steady rise in ebook sales, from US$10 million in the first quarter, US$12 million second quarter, and US$14 million third quarter. Compared to the same single month last year, sales in the month of September 2008 rose by 77.8 percent, to a total for that month alone of US$5.1 million.
This is heartening news for gift givers as well as traders. Because the electronic reading device has an added value. It gives the recipient an ongoing prospect of bestsellers at low cost, and not just bestsellers.
It also opens a world of ebook titles not available in bookshops. These titles come from small publishers who have opted out of the high-cost distribution networks in favour of direct download delivery.
A browse, with free sample chapters, quickly discovers the worth of such works. It's try before you buy The popularity of these websites (search for "ebook retailers") indicates they are publishing really good stuff.
And at a fraction of the high-street bookstore prices.
Occupation: Self-employed writer and literary critic.
Born 1969 in Scotland, Cathy Macleod is a lifelong journalist, widely travelled. She writes a weekly blog on news, views and interviews concerning the book world, at http://www.booktaste.com.
Happily married and twice a mum, she resides with her husband in Kalamunda, in the forested hills overlooking Perth, Western Australia.
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