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Amazon Kindle 2 General title books are increasingly being read on digital
devices, the data shows
Sales of digital books are soaring in the UK, figures from the Publishers
Association show.
The association said that in 2010 sales of e-books and audio book downloads in
the "general titles" category, which includes novels and consumer titles, shot
up from 4m to 16m.
Academic and professional books still dominated overall digital sales, which
reached 180m last year.
It still remains a small proportion of total book sales, which hit 3.1bn.
However, the increased digital sales suggests devices such as Amazon's Kindle
and the Sony Reader are increasingly making an impact.
Copyright review
Richard Mollet, chief executive of the Publishers Association, said: "Digital
publishing is growing at an impressive rate in whichever part of the sector you
choose to look.
"Now that technology is putting e-reading devices into consumers' hands, we are
starting to see the rapid growth of digital sales in this area too, as consumer
publishers develop digital formats to reach wider audiences."
He added the traditional print book market remains "hugely popular" and the
figures suggest print and digital books will co-exist in the future.
In the US, electronic books sold more than either hardbacks or paperbacks in
February.
The Publishers Association said the digital innovation taking place in the UK
could be threatened if copyright laws are watered down in a government review.
Mr Mollet said: "The innovation in the digital marketplace and the strength of
British publishers' export performance is only possible because of the robust
and flexible copyright framework which underpins the UK creative industries."