Google has come out with their own electronic store and it will be giving Amazon some solid competition. Google has scanned about 15 million books they will be using for their store with 4,000 publishers giving them permission to use their books. 52% of the listed sales price will go to the publisher, regardless of Google mark-downs. The Google store will offer consumers electronic books that can be read on almost any machine, except on Kindle. The alternative to Amazon also claims to have one of the most expansive selections because of their various publishers onboard. With E-Books predicted to hit $1 billion in sales by the end of the year, this gives consumers another option.

According to a Forrester study, sales for E-Books are predicted to reach around $1 billion by the end of this year. It is also thought that by the end of 2015 the demand for them will triple. Although only 7 percent of adults are currently using E-Books, these consumers are the ones who typically read the most and therefore buy the most books or spend the most on them.

E-Books offer a great alternative for those who want to get a book online with out having to go to stores like Barnes and Noble or Borders.  These predictions also say the industry will be changed forever as more people will most likely continue to get Kindle or other e-reader products.

For the first time, electronic books for Amazon’s Kindle has outnumbers sales for hardcover books consecutively for the past 3 months. The Kindle which has been on the market for 33 months has been selling an average of 143 ebooks for every 100 hardcover books. This number recently jumped to 180 ebooks for every 100 hardcover books sold on Amazon.com.

Consumers who do not own a Kindle can enjoy Kindle books on many other devices such as laptops, ipohnes, ipads, Blackberries and Android phones.

This study does not include paperback book sales but it’s amazing how technology plays such a large role in such a simple pleasure.

As children, we all got exposed to the library and how important it was to read books.  However, in recent years the library has become a far second to the internet.  With most Americans having a computer in their home, children are now learning the importance of the internet.  The internet has become the quickest way to learn about anything you could imagine.  However, is this affecting the library and the number of people that attend them?  It appears, there is still value added with the library.

According to NPR News, the library is in fact still a place that many recommend you go to for job information, financial advice/information, and anything else you need to know. In recent years, there has been grants given to libraries that allows them to update resources and offer programs to consumers. Some see a library and it’s librarians as a more “trusted” source for information about things like their finances. The internet can be something potentially that people might not trust as much. So, if you are little overwhelmed by all the information on the internet, you might now want to start to reconsider utilizing your local library! Leadpile Lead Exchange also believes in the power of reading and the library. The Heber-Overgaard Library was one of our designated charities, that the Leadpile team contributed donations to in 2008. Knowledge is power!