Amazon: Kindle books now outselling paperbacks, too
By Ben Patterson - Yahoo! Tech Reporter
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Well, that didn't take long. Barely six months after crowing that its Kindle e-books were outselling its selection of hardcover books, Amazon has announced that sales of Kindle titles are now outpacing paperbacks, as well.
The news came as Amazon announced its (disappointing, for Wall Street) earnings Thursday, with online retailing giant noting that since January 1, U.S. customers have bought 115 Kindle editions for every 100 paperbacks sold.
Meanwhile, Kindle e-book sales opened up an even bigger lead over hardcover sales, with Kindle titles outselling hardbacks by an eye-opening three-to-one margin.
Amazon noted that it didn't count free Kindle volumes in its statistics, which would have bumped up the Kindle e-book figures even higher. On the other hand, the tally includes hardcover and paperback books that don't have Kindle editions, Amazon said.
Amazon continues to keep sales figures for its Kindle e-reader hardware close to its vest, saying only that it had sold "million" of its third-generation Kindle device.
The latest Kindle was unveiled last summer and went on sale in August, with the cheaper Wi-Fi-only version selling for $139. The 3G-enabled model goes for $189.
About 810,000 Kindle e-books are currently available on Amazon, the company said, versus 630,000 volumes last July.
Amazon crowed that more than 670,000 Kindle books are selling for $9.99 or less; that said, many e-books on the New York Times bestseller list are priced closer to the $15 mark.
