Report: E-Books Use Is Growing

Reading books for enjoyment has fallen on hard times in recent years. With the advent of the Internet, people spent less time (and money) shopping for books, and the direct result was lower sales for the book industry. However, thanks to the introduction of e-books, reading is cool again. So says USA Today, which discovered that reading for enjoyment is having a renaissance of sorts. According to the publication, e-book sales are growing and users are actually reading more books as a result. According to USA Today:

All are converts to e-books — books read on handheld devices. Still a minority, their ranks are growing and transforming the definition of reading and books.

E-book sales make up 9% of the consumer book market. Through August, their sales are up 193% over a year ago, according to the Association of American Publishers.

Certainly this isn’t surprising with the introduction of the iPad and cheaper Kindle devices. Plus, it certainly helps that readers on the iPad can download free apps to read books from a variety of sources. These include purchasing e-books from the iBooks, Kindle and Nook apps, among others. Rather than having to drive to a bookstore (or ordering a physical book online), now all users have to do is download them to their devices. Are you reading more as a result of e-books? Let us know using the comments below.