Archive - August 15, 2010

You might have read in the New York Times  last week (Thursday, August 12, 2010) how Pete Hamill is publishing his next book They Are Us, about immigration in the United States but not in print. No, his publisher is going  straight-to an e-book. In the same day’s Times, this in the business section, had an article on Barnes & Noble, how they are retooling to stay relevant as e-books take off. According to the Association of American Publishers in the first five months of 2009, e-books made up 2.9 percent of trade book sales. In the same period of 2010, sales of e-books, which generally cost less than hardcovers, grew to 8.5 percent. All of this is because of the new Apple iPad, Amazon Kindle, and the Nook devices. What does this mean? Well, Carolyn Reidy, the chief executive of Simon & Schuster, says that e-books make up about . . .