“Millions of people now own Kindles”

In Global Trade Talk by Edward Nawotka

By Edward Nawotka

Amazon Kindle

“Millions of people now own Kindles. And Kindle owners read, a lot. When we have both editions, we sell 6 Kindle books for every 10 physical books. This is year-to-date and includes only paid books — free Kindle books would make the number even higher. It’s been an exciting 27 months.” The statement was made by  Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, yesterday in a press release touting the company’s fourth quarter sales for 2009. Oh, their sales for the quarter were up 42% to 9.5 billion. For the full year, the company announced net sales increased 28% to $24.51 billion.

As regards the international publishing scene, Kindle and Kindle DX are available for shipment to over 100 countries and the Kindle for iPhone App is now available from the Apple App Store in more than 60 countries. What’s more then self-service Kindle Digital Text Platform (DTP) allows uploads and e-book sales in English, German and French.

The latest stats on the U.S. Kindle Store: 410,000 books, including 100 of 112 New York Times bestsellers, more than 8,000 blogs, and more than 130 U.S. and international newspapers and magazines.

About the Author

Edward Nawotka

A widely published critic and essayist, Edward Nawotka serves as a speaker, educator and consultant for institutions and businesses involved in the global publishing and content industries. He was also editor-in-chief of Publishing Perspectives since the launch of the publication in 2009 until January 2016.