Writers Tricks of the Trade May-June 2015 | Page 23

PRESS “CONTROL” THEN CLICK “BUY” TO PURCHASE THE BOOK
ALTERNATIVES TO
KINDLE UNLIMITED
non-fiction, and formats from trade paperback to hardcover.

ARE PRINT BOOKS MAKING A
COMEBACK?
www.oysterbooks.com

It has been eight years since the first Amazon Kindle debuted and
five years since the first Apple iPad. Surprisingly, it seems that print
books are on the rebound.
The latest 2014 numbers for book sales were
not what you might have anticipated. Nielsen
BookScan, which tracks what readers are
buying, found the number of paper books sold
went up 2.4% last year, including sales at
Amazon and all types of bookstores. As
Publishers Weekly puts it, “the 2014 figures are
further evidence that print books are selling
better than they have since sales of eBooks
exploded in 2010.” Print books apparently hit
rock bottom in 2012, but have since rallied in
categories from children’s books to adult nonfiction, and formats from trade paperback to
hardcover.
Among college students who have tried both types several studies – including one
by tech-centric Hewlett-Packard – find they have a strong preference for printed
textbooks. In the HP survey, 57% preferred print; only 21% preferred an
eTextbook. This is understandable in a way, because it is really easy to have a
print copy at the ready and just flip to the correct page or put sticky papers on
sections you want fast access to. However, if you are looking for a particular
group of words or phrase, a search in an eBook will find it much quicker.
It seems while print sales are rising, eBooks may have hit a plateau of sorts.,
According to the Association of American Publishers, growth in revenues was a
mere 3.8% in 2013 compared to “unprecedented” growth in 2012. The first three
quarters of 2014 showed another nice, modest uptick of 5.6%. In terms of
formats, ebooks were up, hardbacks were down, and paperbacks were up.
Fans of print books, who have long lived in fear that their neighborhood
bookstore will be rendered totally obsolete in a matter of years by the advent of
eBooks, can take some comfort in these new numbers.

FOR $9.95 A MONTH,
READERS CAN ENJOY AS
MANY BOOKS AS THEY
WANT—EVERYTHING
FROM NEW YORK

TIMES BEST SELLERS AND
OPRAH’S PICKS, TO
CHILDREN’S TITLES
AND MORE.

OYSTER HAS HALF A MILLION
TITLES AND NEW BOOKS
ARRIVING EVERY DAY, SO
THEY ALSO OFFER A WIDE
SELECTION OF STORIES TO
DIVE INTO.

READERS CAN BROWSE AND
DISCOVER ON THEIR OWN,
OR GET EXPERT
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM
THE OYSTER EDITORIAL
TEAM. OVER TIME, OYSTER
GETS TO KNOW WHAT
READERS LIKE, AND RECOMMENDS BOOKS BASED ON
THEIR READING HABITS
AND TASTES.

It may be a boon for those worried about the possible downsides of e-reading,
given still preliminary but growing evidence that print books may allow for deeper
reading and stronger understanding and memory than digital books.
WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE

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13

MAY-JUNE 2015