"Amazon sent around a notice to the press today announcing that it has sold 143 Kindle books for every hardcover it has sold over the last three months"
Did you catch that? 143 to 1.
Here's what I'm wondering though -- should this even come as a surprise? With their bulk and increased mark-up, hardcovers were always the likeliest candidate to be surpassed. If there is room for surprise, I'd think it'd be on account of the fact that the Kindle has been on the market for less than three years. The evolution of technology and what it means for us as readers is undoubtedly a fascinating subject worthy of discussion.
Now a question for you, the reader. How long do you think it will take before e-books manage to surpass mass market paperbacks? Will we ever see such a day? I remain slightly skeptical of the e-books ability to completely dominate, but I have no doubt that we could easily see them take a whopping half of all book sales in a decade. Maybe less. Of course, I'm just pulling these numbers out of my ass, so feel free to shut me up with any evidence that suggests otherwise.
Source: Publisher's Weekly
Update: The figures reported turned out to be the result of a mistake. The actual ratio of sales was 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardcovers, rather than the 143 to 1 ratio that was assumed by many (myself included) early on.
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