It looks like eBook sales are up. O’Reilly reports 50% growth in 2008, 104% growth in 2009, and projects roughly 200% in 2010.
From the article:
“While it’s still true that the bulk of the cost of producing and selling a book are in the product development and marketing (rather than the individual unit cost of manufacturing), strong digital sales give us that many more units over which to amortize those often substantial fixed costs.”
It costs money to print and ship a book, but almost nothing to distribute it digitally. However for O’Reilly most of the cost comes in editing, marketing, etc. But when you can sell a book for $4.99 or even less, you can make that money back in volume.
Digital distribution also provides some interesting marketing models that may lower the cost even further.
Speaking of e-reader. Amazon has the Kindle, Apple has the iPod, and Barnes and Noble has the nook. Have you seen Border’s device? Early reports look like it’s a solid contender.
