VoteE-book versus print: How are you reading this summer?

Will you be stretching out on the beach with your e-reader this summer or kicking back with a paperback?

There's been a lot happening in the world of e-books this past year, and we thought it was time to check in with Manitoba readers.

Here's SCENE's 'reading by numbers' primer.

SCENE survey says: Last year around this time, you weighed in our SCENE reading survey. Just under 25% of you were reading e-books and just over 50% of you were going the print route. (Reminder, this was a survey only, and not an official poll!).

E-Book sales trends: On June 25, CBC News reported that approximately 10 per cent of the books sold in Canada last year were e-books, according to one national survey. The Pew Research Centre estimates that 21 per cent of U.S. adults owned an e-reader as of February 2012.

The Centre also found, not surprisingly, that purchasers of e-readers tended to be the most voracious consumers of books. Some U.S. publishers have predicted that e-books will account for half of all sales by 2014.

ELibraries Manitoba: Here in Manitoba, in the land of public libraries, the numbers are showing a sharp trending upwards. In 2011 eLibraries Manitoba (eLM) reported 117,000 e-book checkouts.  That was a whopping 250% more than 2010. 

And in the first six months of 2012, eLM reported 120,000 e-book checkouts. So they've already exceeded last year's numbers in the first half of the year.