Michelle Marchante/ Assistant Opinion Director
According to the New York Times, e-book sales skyrocketed up 1,260 percent between 2008 and 2010. By the time Borders closed its doors in 2011, experts were convinced that printed books would be obsolete by 2015. We’re now in 2016 and the publishing industry has been comfortingly rattled with the discovery that those predictions seem to be wrong-for now.
According to a December analysis report by Nielsen BookScan, a data provider used by many in the industry, 571 million print books were sold in 2015, yet e-books, which experts had predicted would reach 50 or 60 percent of total book sales this year, barely reached the sale mark of 25 percent.
Living in a technology-dominated era, these numbers may sound confusing, as tablets, computers, e-readers and other technological devices are no doubt the most popular consumer purchases throughout the year. Yet those familiar with the history of books will know that this shift in the battle is only natural.
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