E-book sales expected to surge Market researchers expect technology to have breakout season
Sunday, November 29, 2009
By Allen Pierleoni, Pittsburgh Post Gazette

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- You won't catch New York Times best-selling author John Lescroart reading an electronic book anytime soon.

"I'm a hold-a-book-in-your-hands kind of guy and likely will remain that way," Lescroart said in a recent interview.
That doesn't mean this technological revolution and the economics of it are lost on him.
"Hardcover sales of my last book were down 20 percent, while e-book sales were up 300 percent," he said.
Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean a huge jump in royalties. He receives $1 to $1.50 from a $10 electronic download and about $2.50 from a $25 hardcover purchase.

Lescroart and several other authors interviewed haven't embraced electronic readers, but they and their publishers are definitely using the technology to attract and build an audience through special promotions, sales of out-of-print works, and links to their Web-based content.

"For every 100 books we sell in physical, we sell 48 Kindle books," said Cinthia Portugal, a spokeswoman for Amazon.com. "This is up from 35 books for every 100 in May. Our customers tell us they read more with Kindle because they never have to worry about running out of books."

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