What used to be science fiction is now becoming science fact, with digitized e-books quickly replacing their traditional, paper-based predecessors. This is at least according to Amazon, if their sales are any indicator of what will become of books.
Amazon has announced that it has sold 105 e-books for every 100 print and paper books sold. Simply put, their total e-book sales are 5% higher than print sales. While this may not seem like a major difference on paper, the implications of this trend are an important highlight for the future of literature.
While paper has been the only accessible medium of literature for the past 600 years or so, digitized content is now overcoming the limitations of paper and making the distribution of books much faster and cheaper. Authors are quickly taking advantage of this expanding medium of information as well.
Stephanie Edwards, an author and instructor at the Technical College of Lowcountry, says “Whether you’re writing for family, clients, or the general public, your work can be noticed and distributed online around the world.”
This is especially true considering the ease by which budding authors can publish and market their own books over the Internet. If this trend continues, it would be no exaggeration to find paper and print books to be novelty items within a few short decades.
