Ebooks on the Up-swing

An article in the New York Times on December 24, 2008 by Brad Stone and Motoko Rich has a number of interesting points that the self publisher needs to consider. Titled "Ebooks Start to Take Hold," the authors state:

1. Ebooks are gaining in popularity due to Amazon's Kindle and Sony's Reader. This prompts people to feel that the ebook has moved beyond the electronic gadget phase.
2. Increased number of sales outlets and promotion of the devices, to include the endorsement of Oprah Winfrey among others, accounts for wider acceptance. Hence, greater sales of ebooks themselves.
3. As many women as men are purchasing the device and ebooks.
4. Ebooks appeal to those who are heavy readers. This may be the result of an ebook's low price as compared to a print book.
5. Ebooks are already available for the iPhone and will soon be on the BlackBerry. (Clint Brauer, General Manger for CyberRead.com, points out in his comment below that his company carries over 65,000 titles in the Mobipocket format that will work on the Blackberry. He further indicates that none of the titles will play on the BlackBerry Storm. I wonder if the New York Times article simply omitted the "Storm" portion of the statement).

Read the entire article here.

A special thanks to Ron Goebel, self publisher and author of Mata Ortiz Pottery: Art and Life, for the heads up about the article.