The Swampland
The New York Times reports that sales of electronic books and readers are flat, and brick and mortar retailers are doing better. The Washington Post reports surprising and often substantive growth of independent booksellers.
The Times ascribes the flat sales to a mature market, or saturation. Those who want an electronic reader by now have bought one; those who have loaded the readers with books have more than they'll ever read.
I would like to add another reason. The world of $2.99 books is a swampland. They may be cheap, but they waste readers' time and money. There are plenty of people who enjoy evaluating a book in a bookstore.
Of course there are good $2.99 books in the electronic swamps; all you have to do is pick them out and run them onto your reader. And feel lucky because you found one, after a lot of hunting.
The Times ascribes the flat sales to a mature market, or saturation. Those who want an electronic reader by now have bought one; those who have loaded the readers with books have more than they'll ever read.
I would like to add another reason. The world of $2.99 books is a swampland. They may be cheap, but they waste readers' time and money. There are plenty of people who enjoy evaluating a book in a bookstore.
Of course there are good $2.99 books in the electronic swamps; all you have to do is pick them out and run them onto your reader. And feel lucky because you found one, after a lot of hunting.
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