The subject of which is better between e-books and good, old-fashioned paper books is a prevailing topic among avid readers of today. With last year’s release of the Amazon Kindle 2 and the April 2010 release of the Apple iPad, it seems that many booklovers are slowly being converted to becoming fans of the electronic book format. Although many would argue that nothing beats the feeling of going to the bookstore and getting a copy of their favorite author’s latest offering, the convenience of e-book readers, or e-readers, is also reason enough to jump into the e-book bandwagon.  With e-readers holding up to an estimated 1,500 books and with the ease of downloading books through the Internet, it is no surprise that e-books are slowly gaining popularity among the book-buying market.

After sales growth slowed slightly in April, to 127%, e-book sales rose 162.8% in May, to $29.3 million, at the 13 publishers that report results to AAP’s monthly sales report. Sales for the first five months of the year increased 207.4%, to $148.3 million. In some other trade segments, adult hardcover sales jumped 43.2%, to $138.5 million, at the 17 publishers that report results. Sales at nine mass market paperback publishers fell 14.6% in May, to $53.6 million. For the five months, mass market paperback sales were down 7.3%, to $264.8 million; that decline coupled with the rapid growth of e-books puts the e-book market at 55% of the size of the mass market paperback market.

Source: Publisher's Weekly