People Buying More Books, Just Not From Bookstores

Reading ebooks makes people more likely to buy more print books, just not from traditional bookstores.

That's the latest word from the Book Industry Study Group's  “Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading” survey as reported by Publishers Weekly.

Conducted by Bowker Market Research, the survey found that more than half of ebook readers used apps to purchase books more often.  
More than a third are buying more from retail websites like Amazon.

However, the good news for digital vendors is bad news for traditional brick-and-mortar bookstores.

More than a third of ebook buyers spent less at national bookstore chains and 29 percent are buying less from independent booksellers.

The findings also show most of us are still reading all of those ebooks on e-readers, but tablets and smartphones are becoming more popular.

Justice Dept. Plans to Sue Apple, Publishers

The Justice Department has put Apple and five major publishers on notice that it will sue them for allegedly fixing the price of ebooks, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Penguin, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster all follow the agency pricing model.

According to Publishers Weekly, the agency model developed because the major publishers were worried Amazon’s $9.99 price for ebooks would erode the market for print books.

So they allegedly colluded with Apple to come up with the agency model to stabilize prices.

The Journal reports the feds believe Apple and the major publishers acted jointly to raise ebook prices and plan to sue them for violating federal antitrust laws.

Publishers Weekly reports a representative at one of the Big Six publishers pointed out the ebook industry has grown rapidly since the agency model was put into place because it allowed more e-tailers to enter the market.