Look! A post!

Nanowrimo went.

Some family issues arose and I did not meet my goals.

I have noticed a furor in the blogosphere. It has to do with publishers delaying ebook releases.

Much of what I have read states that publishers need to wake up and smell the coffee. Ebooks are the way of the future and ebook customers deserve to get their books at the same time.

I'm going out on a limb and saying this isn't because publishers can't see what's on the horizon. I think it's because ebook reader owners aren't a significant market share yet.

Amazon hasn't released any solid figures on Kindle sales. It's estimated that they sold about 500000 last year. With the lower price point and more people being aware of its existence I suspect Amazon will sell that many or up to 700000 this year. That's 1.2 million. Add Nook and Sony readers to the mix and if you are VERY generous that total might reach 2 million. 2 million is less than 1% of the population.

If every person who owns and e-reader buys every new ebook release it makes sense to cater to their whims. Everyone knows that is not the case.

I'm getting a Nook. I won't have it until February at least but I am getting a Nook. It will not become the only way I purchase books. I will still continue to purchase some books in hardcover. I will still buy most of my books in paperback. I will add e-books to that list. I suspect that most people probably fall into the same category that I do.


Ebooks are not the apocalypse. They are also not the alpha and omega of book distribution. They are one more channel of distribution. One I hope is used correctly. Correctly, however, does not necessarily mean primary.