Answer to Question #229402 in Management for anonymous

Question

Channels of distribution for books have gone through a metamorphosis in recent years with the emergence of e-books, such as Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, or Apple’s iPad. Indeed, by mid-2010, Amazon.com reported that sales of books through its Kindle outnumbered its sales of hardcover books by a ratio of 180 e-books for every 100 hardcover books sold. Only paperback books still sold more units than e-books. But the e-book channel continued to grow rapidly to account for close to 10 percent of total book sales by the end of 2010. Do you think e-book channels will eventually totally replace conventional, physical book channels? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Let me explain why e-books will soon replace paper books. This debate falls into three categories for me. The first advantage is to the readers. Anyone with a conventional phone, smartphone, tablet, or computer may now purchase any title at any time and read it right away. Even better, that same title can be enjoyed by an endless number of people at the same time! Consider the implications for evolution.

Ebooks do more than just provide access; they also enrich the reader's experience in ways that print cannot. We can now increase fonts so that we can read later in life. You won't lose your place in the book again. I frequently wonder how much of an author's meticulous labor goes unnoticed because the reader nodded off and lost track of where they were. Ebooks will immediately open to your current location. The built-in dictionary is my favorite feature. There is no longer any excuse for not seeking up the definition of a word. You can also save the book to your computer and access it from anywhere with an internet connection. When you're on vacation, you won't have to worry about forgetting your print book.

The benefits of the book business model are the second point to consider. Currently, an author is paid only 10-15% of the net sale price of a print book. After the bookstore keeps 40-50 percent of the retail price, the net price of a $20 book is roughly $12 on average, giving the author around $2.00 each print copy sold. The true inefficiency, however, is in the distribution of physical books and what this means for authors.

The third point to consider is the impact that ebooks will have on civilization's advancement. After all of the useless and harmful mall shopping is gone, I imagine a future where the huge malls of our time are transformed into magnificent parks. Millennials are already using significantly less fossil fuels than previous generations, in part because they prefer to shop online rather than in stores.