iPad and Kindle: The demise of the Book

[Roadtrip]

I too work in the publishing industry and from what I'm hearing is magazine sales are WAY down the last two years and books have been trending down for the last two years as well, but not to the same degree.

My employer had exited the market in several magazine communities and have been publishing fewer, but more solid and bankable books recently. What this ment for me is smaller departments and cuts each of the last two years as titles were axed and people let go.

I used to sit on the other side of one of the book publishers and hearing him talk to authors, telling them that he's love to publish the book, but had to see sales figures on the releases of books already in the pipeline before committing.

We're also publishing many of our books for the Kindle and iPad, so I believe there is a place for both to exist.

I own a second generation Kindle (I gave it to my DH) and my new Kindle is due to arrive any day and I'm really looking forward to it!!!

Shannon

[texascampgal]

I have a nook and absolutely love it. I chose the nook over all others because of the ability to share books with friends. I don't think the ipad or Kindle offer that ability.

I love reading the physical books too because I liked to see the progress of the bulk of the pages moving from the back cover to the front cover as I read along. One of my concerns before the purchase was not being able to physcially SEE or FEEL that progress. But, the little progess meter on the bottom of the screen feels the need.

[OakLeaf]

I think books and magazines/newspapers are completely different markets. Most obviously in the prominence of advertiser support (I do wonder what percentage of a publisher's revenues come from product placement in fiction, though). But also in terms of content and the reasons people buy them.

[Biciclista]

I too see the writing on the wall, er, monitor.
We'll always have some books, but when was the last time you looked something up in the dictionary? (I check words on line) When was the last time you used the yellow pages?
(I do that on line too, besides, it's so much more up to date!!)
I have one magazine subscription that i have had for over 20 years (Natural history magazine) I have noticed it keeps getting thinner... I know one day it's just going to go away.
I'm not buying a kindle until I can no longer buy and borrow books..

[OakLeaf]

When was the last time you used the yellow pages?
(I do that on line too, besides, it's so much more up to date!!)

Seriously? That must be a regional thing. When I'm looking for a particular business of course I'll look for their website, but when I'm shopping for a business, around here the online advertising is sparse and usually VERY out of date. I always use the yellow pages to shop.