I hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday season so far!
Surrounded by family, gifts, and (of course) books, I couldn’t help wondering what the future of e-reading holds. By all accounts, this season should be a bumper. But just who is buying all those ebooks?
The setting: A double-decker bus lurching through Notting Hill Gate.
The time: Morning rush-hour
The players: Me (of course), a thousand screaming teenagers on their way to school, and half-asleep punters in stodgy business suits heading to the office
Climbing to the top deck, I slip into a seat beside two gabbing girls and get out my Kindle. Glancing around, I engage in a bit of e-reader spotting – I like to catch sight of them in the wild. And lo and behold, there’s one at the front being read, and one to the left of me. And oh look! There’s another behind me!
‘That’s one of them new book reader thingies, innit?’ The girl beside me stabs a pointy red fingernail at my Kindle.
I turn to face her. ‘Yes. It’s a Kindle.’
‘Oh, a Kindle, right. I seen them on TV.’
‘Would you ever get one?’ I ask, curious. It strikes me that I’ve never seen a teenager reading a Kindle. And my earlier glance around the bus proves my earlier empirical research: it’s all people from their twenties upwards holding ereaders.
She shakes her head emphatically, holding up her BlackBerry. ‘Nah. I do everything on this.’
The conversation left me wondering about the next generation of e-readers. Instead of thinking about what they will be, how about who will they be? Will they be the older generation, a demographic that’s increasingly buying into the e-reader market? Or will today’s technology adapt to suit technology-hungry teens who want to do everything on one platform? In many respects, it already is, with integrated devices hitting the market (Kindle Fire, anyone?).
E-books are ideally suited for the younger generation. Having grown up with technology, they don’t invest the same importance in ‘physical’ products – forget about the e-books versus ‘real books’ debate. Existing virtually is almost as good as the real world.
I’m curious: did any of your children ask for e-readers for Christmas? Do they read e-books? Who do you think the next generation e-reader will be?
Well, as WG2E well knows, I’m 15 and I have a Kindle. My friend Kelli-Mae, of the same age, got a Kindle for Christmas, as did my friend George, 19. I’ve seen several younger folk – students, mostly, so around eighteen or so – on trains and buses with Kindles. Admittedly a lot of people do everything on their phone, but I’ve found the people I know who really love reading are not the sort to be glued to their phones!
(My own phone is black and white, with a screen that’s approximately one and a half centimetres by one centimetre. Amazingly, it has internet access, but I’ve never tried using it. Since the thing crashes when I try and send a long text, and since the screen can’t display pictures, I think there’d be very little point. I am, however, absolutely glued to the thing, texting 24/7, but that’s just because my parents don’t like my friends very much, so they don’t come over!)
Mariam, thank you so much for chiming in with your perspective! Interesting that your friends got Kindles for Christmas, too. I think that the uptake will increase as Kindles become cheaper and lighter.
Hope you’re having a very happy holiday season so far!
With Kobo devices being sold in WH Smiths and Asda and Kobo officially partnered with WH Smiths it’s hard to see Amazon holding its dominance much longer in the UK.
WH Smiths has a branch on almost every high sreet in the country and the Kobo ebook store is bigger than the Kindle UK store.
With B&N on the verge of UK entry too, possibly teamed with Waterstone’s, the UK’s biggest bricks and mortar book store chain, it seems certain 2012 will be the tipping point for ebooks in the UK, but with the share of the market spread much more evenly than in the USA.
Mark, I hear you on the rise of WH Smith and Kobo! I wish there was some way to track my sales on Kobo this season… apart from super-slow Smashwords, of course. Do you know of a way?
This year will certainly be an interesting one to watch!
I’d be lost without my e-reader. I’ve had it for a couple of years and love it! Mine is a Sony rather than a Kindle but my hubby has the Kindle app on his iPad so I get my Kindle fix there.
I still love a physical book but they take up a lot of room and are heavy to carry when travelling. When you can load up your ebook with a couple of hundred titles and it never gains weight – that’s a bonus!
Melanie, I love my ereader, too. It’s so convenient when you’re moving around and travelling! Much better than lugging twenty books in your suitcase.
Or shipping books back and forth for all of your vacays…which no joke is what I always used to do!
Shipping books!
LOL! You do love reading, don’t you, DD!
As a mother of four teenage boys, I can tell you that NONE of them read!!! They use to read, and they have to read a couple novels in school, but they don’t just buy a book to read. Plus school makes you buy a print copy…sigh….
Anyways, all my kids have an iphone, ipods, and this year one of them got an Ipad. Do you think there are any books on those? NO! But there is angry birds:)
I really do believe that Ipad and Iphone is where a lot of the younger generations do read their books. I admit that I have the kindle app on my iphone and I read on there a lot. BUT I still love my kindle.
Interesting, Tonya! World dominance by Angry Birds!
I do some reading on my phone, as well, but I much prefer my Kindle. I reckon most younger people will read on their phones.
Interesting post, Talli! I think the young will take to any new technology voraciously. Maybe the real question in time will be, how many people (not just teenagers) will still want to read books-ie novels, which are long as opposed to sound-bite articles, whether these are paper or electronic? My son got a kindle for Xmas and he was checking out the mag subscriptions. In his case, out of curiosity as he does ‘read books’ … but it set me thinking… Still, I hope the answer is ‘lots’.
You nailed it with your “sound-bite”-sized suggestion, Giselle!
I do see a huge trend in story lengths getting shorter to match our multi-media worlds!
That’s a great questions, Giselle. I was reading recently that serials are very popular in China – people read bite-sized chunks on their phones. I’m also noticing more and more short stories cropping up in the Kindle store, and they are very popular. I wonder if people’s reading habits will change?
I’ve got an iPad myself. Which, as was pointed out does a lot more than just display books. It doesn’t have a phone though, nor would I want one. It does text, but it’s doubtful that I’d do much of that. A generational thing I believe since I’m closing rapidly on sixty.
As to the original question, I have no kids and so none asked for or got an ereaders.
However I do have several nieces and nephews, none of which received ereaders. A couple are too young to be much interested in reading. The others, perhaps not surprisingly considering their parents are not much interested in technology, have no interest in getting an ereaders. They don’t even have cell phones and don’t want one.
My personal belief is that ereaders will become more and more multi-mission capable. Phone, web browser and computer all in one like the Fire and iPad. It will be cheaper and far more convenient for the user. They’ll get lighter, the batteries will get more powerful, and the screens will get larger. Screens will stabilize in size with Kindle size being the smallest and perhaps a bit larger than the iPad.
The next big breakthrough will be ‘smart paper’. This will be touch screens the thickness and weight of paper. That will be a huge change in the system. Read a copy of Neal Stephenson’s ‘The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer’ to see a vision of what this will be like.
This turned out a lot longer than I expected.
You know. It will be intersting to see what smart paper will be like, if we come to it in my generation (being someone a little over half your age *grin*). The Young Lady’s Illistrated Primer facinated me. I know I would have totally gobble up a book like that, only you never really finsih it do you?
:} Cathryn
Rob, interesting! Smart paper – interestingly, my husband’s company in the UK was looking into something like that for the workplace, to save them from carrying around loads of documents when they travel. I can’t wait to see how things shake out in the coming years!
I couldn’t imagine reading a novel on an iphone or one of those small screens. I wonder if we should be writing specifically for those kinds of devices: flash fiction, short-short stories, even poetry. Perhaps jokes. Something that can be read in one easy read–while on the bus or standing in line. I’m not sure how those things would be priced, 10 cents for a poem, 20 cents for a short-short story, 50 cents for flash fiction. It could be a specialty niche for some writers. Not sure it would work; just a thought.
This is exactly why I think short story collections – like our WG2E Anthologies – and short stories in general are really coming into their own, Richard!
I’m doing great with my short stories (and Tonya, Talli and I’s Christmas Anthology is rockin’ it too)…there’s an entire niche market of readers – many of them via cell phone – who just want short reads while they’re waiting on kids or at doctor appointments.
I agree, Richard — I’ve seen a definite rise in flash fiction and short stories. I have read a few novels on my phone, but I must admit I do prefer the larger screen of the Kindle. And as I said in an earlier comment, I am seeing a lot more short stories in the Kindle store. And people are buying!
In Japan, they already have novels formatted specifically for cellphones, called ketai.
They have a 1K character per page limit. I think that the notion of how books are delivered will change drastically. When you think about it, the model of making readers wait 6 months – 2 years to see any new content is a product of legacy publishing.
Novelists will begin writing in the serial format again (like Poe and Dickens did for weekly magazines) and charging for subscription based tales, or chopping up content, and spreading it out over weeks or years. Just my opinion on that one.
And a great opinion it is, Indie Books List!!!
I’ve got some very exciting news soon on the Serial Format…I can’t wait to share it with all of you!!!
I’ve seen a UK author recently do a novel on Kindle in serial format — and it’s done very well for her. Interesting that in Japan the technology already exists, and is very popular.
Not just Japan, China as well.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2011-03/28/content_12236969.htm
The issue really is that the e-reader is an American thing, perhaps eventually a European thing too if we can avoid the prices for e-books becoming extremely difficult /prohibitive.
But for ASia, they’ve long embraced the serial novel and are doing quite well at it. They like smaller devices is what I guess it is ultimately.
I disagree to an extent. Most teens I talk to who are avid readers still want the “book” experience and are not keen on giving it up. I think because they are so inundated with technology, they are resistant to one more tech device. The other issue is buying power. You don’t see teens dishing out the money for books, e- or otherwise. It’s still parents who are doing the buying, so unless they can download for free, kids aren’t typically our buyers.
Having said that, I think it’s an inevitability that this will change. It’s all a matter of time before e-reading devices become the norm and teens will be allowed a certain book “allowance” just as they are with gaming devices. Either way, the e-reading world is up and coming and I don’t think much will stop it (barring a total annihilation of the tech world as in a global EMP or something equally as devastating). Then we’ll all be clinging to the pages of our tattered paperback books:-)
Hi PJ, thanks for chiming in! Perhaps that’s why I don’t see a lot of teens (yet) using an e-reader… because they’re still reading the physical book. I agree that this will likely change when e-readers become the norm, like gaming devices, and parents allow teens to spend money. It will be interesting to see what the future holds, that’s for sure!
Ditto PJ Sharon. My daughter (an avid reader) has refused to read books on Kindle. She loves the feeling of a book in her hand. Last night, she finally relented and started to read The Hunger Games on my Kindle–she gave the experience a solid ‘thumbs down’.
In every other aspect, Daughter is a techno-teen, married to her iPod, cell phone, Tumblr, and Twitter. I think that inevitably she’ll resign herself to getting her book content via bytes as well.
What an A-mazing post, Talli, and I luuuvvv your double-decker bus bit!!!
And you are sooo onto something where teens (the next generation of Ereaders) are concerned!
My nieces and nephews do everything on their phones (ages 8-16)…heck even the 3 y.0. has a DS System and wants a cell phone for his birthday. He started out with one of those VTech Ereaders at 18 months!!! And they also have Kindles and Tablets too, but the majority of everything they do is on their phones.
And how ’bout our college-aged kids…they are now getting into Ereaders too because their college books are cheaper on there!!! My 19 y.o. niece got the Kindle Touch for Christmas for that reason, plus she’s a huge, huge fiction reader as well.
I think this is one of the reasons we could see Kobo really do well. The Japanese Company that now owns them knows that in their world, almost everything is done on cell phones and I think they’ll bring that aspect to a tablet/phone/Ereader all-in-one device….that yes, you can buy in UK grocery stores!
My 2.5 year old has a Vtech ereader. She loves to sit with Mommy and click on the pictures and words. It’s an interactive book to her. And her speaking has VASTLY improved since we’ve started doing the electronic reading once every few days together (I also read paper books to her).
She calls my Nook Touch “Mommy’s Book” and will bring it to me just she can unlock it for me. LOL.
Elizabeth, I love that! ‘Mummy’s Book’ – ha! Perfect. And how cool that your daughter is growing up with reading being such an interactive experience.
Wow, I never even thought about college books being cheaper. That’s a huge draw for college-aged kids! Thanks, DD!
She has one book that’s over $300, but she can get it on Kindle for about a third of that!!!
I was one of those people who always hated ereaders. Just the idea felt like I would be cheating on my hardcopy books. But after starting my blog I saved up money and decided to give it ago. I tried a few out and didnt like them until I found tge kindle. It was love at first touch! I still prefer my hardcopy books but the kindle has opened me up to many amazing indie authors.
As soon as I got my HTC the first app I downloaded was the kindle app and I use that mostly when I’m on buses and travels to read short stories. Because I dont always take my kindle with me. The back light hurts my eyes sometimes but it not so back on the phone has it is on colour ereaders. but when I got my phone my son was really interested in the app. The normal kindle isn’t very good for children’s books because It has no colour. But the app he adored! I ended up getting him a leappad for his 5birthday. A kids tablet that I can get some ebooks for. And onces the kindle fire is released in uk we will get one because he loves the idea of ereaders.
Sorry for the ramble don’t know if any of that made sense lol.
Hi Siobhan! It made perfect sense! I love hearing about people’s experiences with ereaders, and what works for them (and doesn’t) – and how the younger generation is taking to it. (That makes me sound about a zillion years old!) I reckon once the Kindle Fire comes to the UK, children’s ebooks will take off a lot more. We shall see!
I am hoping that UK teens will catch up with US ones. At a conference in November, an author who writes YA said that she did a Skype visit to the US and all the children in the class had Kindles. She said that she hoped it would catch on over here.
Wow, now that would be cool – a whole class having Kindles! Somehow, after teaching in the UK school system, I fear it may take some time before budgets might be able to sustain that (if ever!). But still… it’s a lovely thought.
I think iPads might be the things that get more younger people reading. Schools in the US are beginning to buy them and I think they’re going to revolutionize reading groups. I think when a screen is backlit, it makes my eyes tired. But I think teens respond to that.
Teens don’t seem to have the same issue with backlighting, do they, Theresa (and hi!
) I’ve seen a lot more teens reading on iPhones and BlackBerries. Kindles, not so much. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out!
I see two camps.
The Youth
In October, I taught English for the day at my son’s middle school. 5th and 6th graders, four presentations all about publishing and what digital publishing means today. More than half of them knew about ereaders and wanted one for Christmas. A handful already HAD ereaders, with a few pulling them out right then and there, ready to buy my book! (Had to say no, it’s for grown ups).
These kids don’t have nostalgic attachments to “books.” I also noticed there were also boys telling me they don’t like to read, but they like to read on an ereader (my own son is this way, so I wasn’t shocked). One last thing that was interesting? Two of the boys both had Kindles. They had parental permission to buy any ebook that was $.99 or FREE but no more than one book per day. They were voracious readers, brothers, and talked to me about the accessibility of Tolkien vs. Harry Potter as an example of the genre fantasy for their age group (yeah, I was blown away). Anyway, the younger brother, a 5th grade, smirked about how with ereaders, he and his brother write notes for the other to find. So they “share” a digital library, and as they read, they write digital notes back and forth to each other! How cool is that?
The More Mature Crowd
I bought my mother a Kindle w/ Ads for Christmas. Yes, I’m a Nook person, but the Kindle more easily integrates with her public library back home. I showed her how to sideload, but she doesn’t even download pictures from a digital camera, so I don’t see her sideloading many titles at first. It took her 30 minutes to have a great command of the device. After I showed her where to find the free book listings on Amazon, the woman went through the ENTIRE top 100 and downloaded about 30 titles she was interested in. Her only complaint? “Elizabeth, these are so short! I just read one! And they want me to buy their other books…” I laughed and told her writers need to eat too. She grumbled but bought a few titles right there, then gasped to my father “Randy, I just bought two books! Right here at Elizabeth’s kitchen table and they’re here!” My Dad winked at me and thanked me for creating a monster.
My mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law each received Kindle Fires (not from me). Grandma’s complaint? “Where the instruction book? It says click here to Get to Know Your Kindle but I need to read instructions first, they must have left them out of my box.”
So there’s the next generation of ereader users that I see.
Both groups are new to the idea of using technology in their daily lives, with the youthful group anxious to conquer all, and the the more mature users apprehensive about how easy the devices really are (there MUST be a catch somewhere). 
Elizabeth,
I loved your stroy about the two boys. I’m going to have to figure out how to do that shared library for my kids. Sure they are opposite genders, but they are pretty close as siblings go (well as far as I know).
And the older generation has made me think of my Nana-in-law, she and I got a Netbook the same year. She still has trouble using it, poor thing. I suggested to my Mother-in-law that she get a Kindle (as she read through my draft book in an afternoon), but I’m not sure that will happen, since my mother-in-law would probably end up working it for her. *giggles*
:} Cathryn
Cathryn, isn’t that amazing about the brothers? I love it! Maybe you should get Nana-in-law a Kindle! She might be able to work it easier than you think!
Elizabeth, I LOVE the story about the two brothers! I am blown away by them… wow. And how amazing that they can write little notes back and forth and share the library, too! If that’s the next generation of e-reader, then roll on!
And your little vignette about your mother made me laugh. I recognise my mum in that, too! She was amazed she could download books so quickly and easily, despite being something of a technophobe.
So, drawbacks? None, it appears! Long live ebooks! And the next generation of ereaders.
My son got a Nook Simple (the smaller one) and he’s already downloaded a bunch of books and is glued to the thing. He isn’t a big phone user yet (he’s 13), although he has one, but he reads like crazy. He’s remarked that he likes how light weight it is, and when we went to get a cover for it, he didn’t want one of the permanent ones that makes it look like a book (like his mom favors), but just a slip case to protect it in his backpack. He likes the feel of the device in his hand. #totalconvert
Meanwhile, my parents-in-law got me a Kindle Fire, even though I already have a Nook Color (yes, I’m spoiled) and I LOVE IT. Actually, I love both of them, but the Fire is very, very nice.
Interesting that he doesn’t want it to look like a book, but to keep the device feel to it! I love that it’s converted him!
And Susan, I’m so jealous. I want a Kindle Fire! Sigh… meantime, I’ll enjoy yours vicariously.
Ah, I always to the glance up and down the train to see who is reading and on what. Kindle seems popular on the tubes. The teenagers though – are always glued to their phones – it would be interesting to know if the girls were reading something – and on what. I think iPads would be the big sellers – sheer apps and market domination – plus the kids love the apple technology – and assume it would get cheaper in the long run. E-readers now, I’m loving that there is competition for Kindle – specifically from someone like Kobo, I don’t think any company has really gone after Kindles market in a big way before. (but I could be wrong).
Hi Talei! I should have asked the girls if they did any reading on their phone! Next time I’m stuck in bus full of screaming teens!
I’m watching to see how things shake out with Kobo vs Amazon in the UK, especially with WH Smith and Asda involved!
Actually we are all e-readered up in our house, though I am the only one with a true e-reader. I have a Nook Color and even that has been re-rooted to be a WiFi Android tablet. I have Kindle and Nook on it and my iPhone (read all of the last Steig Larson book in 10 hours on it!) My DH has kindle and ibooks on his phone and iPad. I asked the DD if she wanted a Kindle Fire and the answer was no. She is a voracious reader of hard copies and e-books (She finished the Night Circus in several of hours), she loves hardcopies for their tactile qualities but e-books she loves because she can download (another!) Discworld book without having me complain about going out to the store. She is 11 so that may change as she gets older. It is interesting to note that she originally got a Nook Classic that she desperately wanted and decided she didn’t like it. Now she is moving to where 60% of her new books are electronic. I’m thrilled that she is moving that direction since I couldn’t even begin to keep up with buying the hard covers.
LC, interesting about your daughter! I do wonder if that will change, too… will she move to a classic ereader or a phone? Keep us posted!
PS – ‘The Night Circus’ is on my TBR list. I can’t wait to read it.
My 9 year old grandson gets to read his books on his mommy’s Nook, but I may buy him the cheapie Nook next year for himself. He is grabbing up any book with dragons in it right now.
Jill, whatever gets him reading!
So cool that he’s already reading on a Nook.
We too are going through a dragon stage. My son is 11. I bought him a How to Draw Dragons book from Books a Million (took two weeks for it to take the place of Borders
). He loves to read on my Nook, but sharing a library with him is a bit tough as I read grown up girl books 
This piece from Seth Godin is not about the future E-reader generation but as those of us who are counting on the long tail I found it interesting to see the other side’s point.
“The Long Tail is Chris Anderson’s brilliant coinage. If you’re not up to speed on it, here you go.
Well, the long tail has hit the book business, and hard. The number of ebooks published in 2012 is going to exceed a million, easily. That’s more than 8 times as many books as were published to the public a year ago, and many times the number twenty years ago.
Most of those books will be in the long tail and by most economic measures, will fail. A few will end up on the short head and do just fine, thanks very much.
But what about the future of the book? When will we see books with seriously high quality embedded video, multiple endings, plot twists based on your pulse rate and significant interactive features that aren’t that difficult to dream about?
Phil Simon sent along this interview with the head of Ingram books. It’s filled with breathtaking visions of the future, and they are economically ridiculous. The Long Tail creates acres of choice, so much as to make the number of options almost countless. But at the same time, it embraces (in every format) much lower production values. For what Michael Jackson and Sony paid to produce the Thriller album, today’s artists can make and market more than 5,000 songs. You just can’t justify spending millions of dollars to produce a record in the long tail world.
[The only reason that movies still cost so much to make is the finite number of movie screens available to the studios (this choke point enforces the scarcity of the short head). Once the world is 100% Netflix, don't expect to see many more $200 million movies.]
The same thing that happened to music is going to be true of books. The typical ebook costs about $10 in out of pocket expenses to write (more if you count coffee and not just pencils). But if we add in $50,000 for app coding, $10,000 for a director and another $500,000 for the sort of bespoke work that was featured in Al Gore’s recent ‘book’, you can see the problem. The publisher will never have a chance to make this money back.
Sure, there will be experiments at the cutting edge, but no, they’re not going to pay off regularly enough for it to become an industry. The quality is going to remain in the writing and in the bravery of ideas, not in teams of people making expensive digital books.
The market didn’t really make a conscious choice here, but the choice has been made: it’s not a few publishers putting out a few books for the masses. No, the market for the foreseeable future is a million publishers publishing to 100 million readers. Do the math. Lots of choice, not a lot of whistles. And no bells.”
LC, thank you so much for posting that! Wow – what a great piece. Makes perfect sense to me, as both a writer and a reader. Personally, I’m all about choice. I don’t need bells and whistles! A great read – I don’t really mind if it’s a big-name author or not – quality writing and good formatting, and I’m all set.
excellent article and the comments are just as good. my daughter and I got kindles last christmas. took me a couple of books to warm up to it, but now I don’t like reading a paper book. Neither does she. Hard to hold, don’t stay open when I prop them against a pillow or blanket and heavy to carry.
I have 300 books loaded on it. Have read about 200 of them. Then I got a smart phone and now i’m also loading books on there – I ALWAYS have my phone, ergo I always have a book to read. I prefer the kindle because I can make the font larger, but I read on my phone with no problem. I’ve also learned to put story books for my grandchildren on my tablet, so they get the benefit of the color. ditto for reference material – on the tablet, I find it easier to read and I can jot notes quickly.
by the way, my 4 yo and 18 mo granddaughters are playing on their dad’s tablet. reading, coloring and angry birds, among other things. this is going to be so natural to them, they won’t know life without a spectrum of technology at their finger tips.
Louise, I’m just like you! It took me a few books to warm up to it, but now I don’t like reading paper books as much — I find them cumbersome. I love the convenience of reading on both my Kindle and my phone, too.
My 8 year old grandson brought his Nook Touch to our house this Christmas. I have never seen him read a book for pleasure. He is a techie kid and always had some device in his hands. Well, his mother said, “He read the entire way to your house.” I was shocked. And I ask – why is this Nook tablet the lure that gets him reading???
Here’s what I think. After teaching 30 some years – English and Literature – I have noticed that boys especially did not always want to be seen reading between classes, or at lunch (of course) or while waiting for a ride and such. Besides, boys seemed to be more active and less likely to want to SIT for long. My grandson continued to read his Nook (we shared our Nooks since I received a new one for Christmas), and this is a kid who loves sports, the wii, xbox and any type game gadget thing. The reason? It is a game gadget thing. Simple. It’s cooler than a book and no one knows just WHAT you are reading.
I am not sure that this reasoning would be the same for girls, but it might. It is simply more cool to have a Nook or Kindle in your hand than a real book for the generation who has grown up with electronic games in their hands.
I might be a bit strange about my reading habits, but I go from paper to e-book all the time now. I miss paper in my hands and then I miss the feel of the Nook. It’s like having two friends who bring me such delight no matter which one I see in front of me.
I’m curious if you’d count smartphones as e-readers? Perhaps the model exists to create new readers and writers, but it’s not as bound to the Nook and Kindle as the older demographic seems to be.
Pointing out the existing of Wattpad in the web and app sphere. I write and upload on Wattpad proper (through their website)as an alternative to serializing on the web where people can choose to read the stories or they can obtain a Droid or iPhone app version that allows folks to read stuff on whatever device they use (smartphone or tablet).
Recently they announced their 1 millionth subscriber — and given that their demographic seems to skew to the teen base, I’d argue that the next generation of e-readers already exists… they’re just not digging the technology that old folks like (i.e., dedicated readers) but flocking to those that come to them.
This had never occurred to me until this was posted…now reading the comments its pretty apparent why the younger generation doesn’t use, have or like ereaders. Convenience is a huge part of that, it’s just something else to tote around, phones are already with them. Money, most books cost $$$ & they don’t have an allowance for them (yet) which was a very valid point. It’s all part of technology trends that I’m so excited we are apart of.
I love the info on being able to get college text books, I had no idea!!
Between iPhones, iPads & Kindle, eBook sales are going to explode in 2012 in all areas of age. So I ask… “Are you ready for it? Do you have your plan of how many books your going to write? Do you have a marketing plan? Are your books that are released, quality work? (I’ve had to really focus on this area, but I’m learning). No matter what platform our market is reading on, we gotta be ready, right?
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