During a conference call following the Barnes & Noble earnings report last week, CEO William Lynch noted that Barnes & Noble is now selling “three times as many digital books as all formats of physical books combined on BN.com”. This is on the heels of Amazon having reported in May that it is selling more e-books than physical books. Is this truly the end of physical books?
Many, myself included, are hesitant about adopting e-books. We love the actual feeling of the pages, knowing at a glance how much of the story we have left to finish, and even that old-book smell (it can be quite comforting). Yet ownership of e-readers has more than doubled in the past year—it has increased from 5% of US consumers (ages 12 to 65) in the first quarter of 2010 to 11% in the first quarter of 2011, according to our New Media Measure data. And these owners tend to devour books, both digital and printed—on average they purchased 2.9 physical novels/books in the past 6 months (compared to only 1.8 among total) and 5.0 e-books. Even libraries are renting out e-books on the Kindle and the Nook, as well as other devices.
And let’s not forget the tablets. Tablet ownership is now at 8% of US consumers, and 28% of them have read an e-book or e-novel in the past 3 months—up from 23% in the fourth quarter of 2010. Given the tablets’ multipurpose functionality and their rapid adoption, the more consumers buy tablets and discover the wide range of activities available, the more owners will continue, and even increase, their e-book/e-novel consumption through them.
So despite my hesitation to give up my physical books, the growing adoption of e-readers—along with Border’s demise and Barnes & Noble’s not-so-bright outlook—suggests books can eventually become an all-digital medium. Now all we have to do is change with the times.