No wonder so many indie bookstores are biting the dust: A new study by Nielson Online shows that more books are sold on the internet than any other product and the number is increasing, according to BBC News.
They surveyed 26,312 people in 48 countries. 41 percent of internet users had bought books online, a 7 percent increase from two years ago. The company said much of the increase was in emerging markets, such as South Korea and India. In the U.S., 57.5 million online shoppers bought books. There is all this hubbub about the "death of the book and reading" and whatnot, but these stats provide some hope. And Randall Stross wrote a promising note in this Sunday’s New York Times:
The book world has always had an invisible asset that makes up for what it lacks in outsize revenue and profits: the passionate attachment that its authors, editors and most frequent customers have to books themselves.
