Could e-readers spell the end for books?

As e-reader ownership soars, Hannah Stephenson and Cathy Gordon examine the device’s pros and cons

Less than two years after they were launched, it’s estimated that more than 807 million people worldwide own some sort of e-reader — and many will be downloading a stack of titles to take with them on holiday.

The boom has allowed previously unknown authors to make it big, as has been proved by the phenomenal success of the Fifty Shades Of Grey trilogy by EL James, who used the self-publishing arm of Kindle to become the first person to sell more than one million e-books.

Earlier this year publishers scrambled to sign sports journalist Kerry Wilkinson after the runaway success of his self-published e-book Locked In, the first in the Jessica Daniel detective series. The book sold a staggering 250,000 e-books in six months.

His strategy involved selling the first novel at a bargain 98p (the follow-ups cost more), and marketing it using his own website and social media.

Now the backing of publishing giant Macmillan could propel him into the same league as Lee Child and Martina Cole.

The e-reader has come a long way in the last two years, with competition hot among Kindle, Sony, Kobo, and others. As well as finding new authors, a number of e-book sellers offer free downloads of classic books that are out of copyright.

It also appears to be changing the genres people buy. Downloading saucy stories is becoming increasingly popular with women, for example, as the anonymity of the transaction means they are spared the blushes of having to buy a sexy title at the till.

The future of the e-book is undoubtedly rosy (one in 40 adults in Britain received an e-reader for Christmas) but could it ever replace the traditional print book?

Sophie Poderoso, PR manager for Kindle, says: “For some people, it already has, even people who were initially technophobic. It’s all about getting you closer to the author’s words and enabling people to read more.

“Since Kindle launched, people are reading four times as many books. It means there’s a real renaissance in reading and that can only be good.”

But not everyone is a devotee of the device, as our reviewers demonstrate.

FOR

As an avid holiday reader, my Kindle has proved indispensable. It was a while before I bought one, because I thought it could never replace the pleasure of holding and reading a real book.

But I decided to bite the bullet after lugging several large paperbacks on a two-week break in the sun, only to find that I had run out of things to read days before I was due to fly back home.

So the next time I fled these rainy shores, I was armed with my new toy. Before I went I downloaded several weighty tomes, planning to broaden my mind. However, once stationed on my sunbed, all I wanted was a good old thriller to go with my ice-cold beer. Kindle to the rescue!

After a quick search in the Kindle shop I made my choices, at very little cost, and within a matter of seconds they miraculously appeared — and I was able to lose myself in the murky world of crime. I have found it particularly useful for short breaks abroad via a low-cost airline when I want to travel as light as possible.

— Cathy Gordon

AGAINST

I recognise the weight-saving, space-saving values of taking an e-reader on holiday, but there’s nothing like the feel of a real book to get you in the mood for reading.

I have resisted the e-reader, partly because I spend so long on a screen at work that I don’t want to resort to a screen in my free time. I love the feel and even the smell of books, the comfort and cosiness those pages can create, the fact that you never have to plug anything in and that the batteries never run out.

Trialling the new Kindle Touch, I found the black and white format uninspiring, with choices having to be made in monochrome. Part of the fun of choosing a book is surely to see the cover in all its glory. I’d need to go to a bookshop to make my choice before I downloaded it on to my e-reader, and that would be a palaver.

When I go to bed I look forward to choosing from a pile of books on my bedside table, not a tablet. It doesn’t inspire me to read.

While other readers may be piling their mass-market disposable Dan Browns and Jilly Coopers onto their tablets for their holidays, I’ll be borrowing my choices from friends and family or treating myself to a new paperback, which I can then pass on to others to enjoy.

— Hannah Stephenson