UK ebook sales drop for the first time
It seems that our love affair with ebooks could be turning sour. For the first time since digital book sales were recorded, the number of ebooks sold in the UK dropped in 2015.
The drop could be partly explained by the fact that we seem to be reading less in recent years. While sales of printed books rose by 0.4 percent according to the Publishers Association, digital book sales declined by 1.6 percent.
The increased popularity of printed books has been driven in part by an explosion in adult colouring books. Audio books have also increased in popularity, with 2015 seeing a 26 percent increase in sales.
Publishers Association chief executive Stephen Lotinga said:
These figures show that the UK publishing industry continues to go from strength to strength and the UK's love for print is far from over.
Digital continues to be an incredibly important part of the industry, but it would appear there remains a special place in the consumer’s heart for the aesthetic pleasure that printed books can bring.
The declining interest in ebooks will come as bad news for Amazon which recently launched the Kindle Oasis e-reader.
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