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Ebook sales beat conventional books — Feb 2011.

This is what can be considered a micro-blog post. Something small, something interesting, just to let those folks, who do in fact read my blog, know what I believe is important.

So, it seems that as of February 2011 that sales of ebooks has trumped sales of conventional, paperbound books. What I say to this is, about time! To me, progress seems to take too long, where is the future now! I recall back with my Palm 5 (the early 2000s) lamenting that ebooks were not sufficiently good enough to replace paper books. Now, at last, they are.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/15/technology/ebooks_beat_paperbacks/index.htm?hpt=T2

Of course the numbers in this article are a little rubbery, but it is there. Ebooks have come of age. What does this mean?

It means books should be cheaper. I hate the bleating of the publishing biz, who rival only the music biz for burying one's head in deep sand. Ebooks have the potential to decrease costs, increase availability, and enhance the reading experience. Lets get creative. Yet, all we hear from the books publishers is whining about problems, and about costs, and more whining. These guys are coming to the party with a huge investment in the old publishing business, and they are unwilling to change.

There are new breeds of publishers, such as Baen books, who have regularly published ebooks for a decade, and have made money doing so, for example. There are also authors who directly market to their readers, and make money doing so.

I am glad that ebooks are finally taking off. I can now walk around with 10,000 books in my pocket. My books are much cheaper and the vast array of public domain material  opens up new areas of reading pleasure.

A little bit of the future has arrived. At last. More more more !

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