Effects of E-Readers on the Publishing Industry

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E-readers have had a large affect on the book industry. People no longer have to go to a bookstore and walk among the rows and rows of books to find what they want. they can simply go online and order one and it is instantly downloaded to their e-reader. But how is this affecting the publishing industry?

Surprisingly e-readers have actually helped the publishing industry. According to IBISWorld industry analyst Agata Kaczanowska, e-books are costing the publishing companies more to produce but are also helping to establish their businesses online. Studies done by research company IBISWorld show that from 2008-2012 sales of children and young adult books will have gone up.7 percent. Researchers predict the sales rates to keep rising.

Even after this good news for publishers, there are still some problems that are occurring. Publishers have to compete against the self-publishing industry. with all of the technology available today it is much easier for authors to self-publish their own works than ever before.

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These new technologies are changing the way that the book industry works. According to, Sourcebooks CEO, Dominique Raccah publishers now need to start developing platforms where readers can directly communicate with the authors. Raccah believes that publishers need to be more customer oriented and "offer authors branding and marketing services that writer’s can’t do themselves."

If publishers are able to entice authors to use their services instead of going to the self-publishing method they can continue to increase their profits.

 The romance publishing industry is actually leading the way in the digital world. The romance section of the industry has completely redone its genre by splitting it into over 40 different sub-genres according to Lori James, founder of the online e-book retailer, All Romance.

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Despite the popularity of e-readers researchers have found that many parents are going against the use of e-readers because they feel it is just another screen to look at. This is good news for bookstores who have taken a sales hit since the popularity of the e-reader has risen. This is a problem that bookstores take very seriously. The big bookstores such as Barnes & Noble have nothing to worry about; it is the small non-chain stores that are in danger. Hopefully people will continue to buy the print version of books and not just e-books so small book stores across the country can stay open.

The Starting Line Up...

E-Readers are the new up and coming technology in the book world. But where do you start? How do you figure out which device is the best? There are so many out there and they seem to be constantly updating them.

The two most popular brands are the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble NOOK. In 2011 the 4th generation Kindles were released to the public. There were three new kindles introduced: the Kindle 4, Kindle Touch Reader, and the Kindle Fire Tablet. Barnes & Noble also have three main types of the NOOK. There is the NOOK Simple Touch, NOOK Color, and the NOOK Tablet.

Many of the features on these devices are the same but there are small things that separate them. The most expensive versions of these devices are the Kindle Fire and the NOOK Tablet; this also means that they have the most features and the best quality.

Rakesh Kumar wrote an article comparing these two devices. Kumar stated that both the Kindle Fire and NOOK Tablet are in color, both can stream movies from Netflix or Hulu, and both have the Android market to download apps. The main differences between the two are the clarity of the screen, memory storage, and battery life.

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The Kindle Fire has about 7.5 hours of battery and the NOOK Tablet has 9 hours and 15 min. the NOOK Tablet also has 16 GB of storage with another possible 16 with an SD card. The Kindle Fire has only 8 GB of storage. However the Kindle Fire does have better screen clarity than the NOOK Tablet.

The other devices produced by these companies are good products but they lack some the features available on the Kindle Fire and the NOOK Tablet. Other than the NOOK Color the others do not have color screens.

Before purchasing any of these devices it is wise to check out the competitors prices and figure out the features that you want to have. There is no sense in paying two hundred dollars for a Kindle Fire if you only plan to read books. You might as well save yourself the money and buy the Kindle 4. The Kindle 4 is just your basic e-reader; no color screen, basic internet, and a touch keyboard. Make sure you do the research to find what works for you!