While that headline might be a bit misleading (I’ll explain why, below), it is meant to send a bit of a jolt to those interested in writing and publishing.
Can this be true?
Yes, with some qualifications. Amazon did indeed sell more digital books for its Kindle than print books on Christmas day, 2009. There are logical reasons for this.
- People received a lot of Kindles for Christmas.
- Because you can download from the device, what is the first thing that people are going to do upon opening their bright, shiny Kindle? Easy – they are going to immediately dive in and buy some books!
- Few beyond a bright, shiny, new Kindle owner were really shopping for books on Amazon on Christmas day.
So was it an anomaly? Almost certainly. And yet, it is a very strong indicator of where the publishing world – the reading world in general – is going. All of those people who jumped in and began to download books on their Kindles that day will continue to buy, download and consume digital books from Amazon in the years to come.
The importance of ensuring that digital publishing is a key part of book publishing and distribution strategy simply can no longer be ignored.
