The shift to reading e-books appears to be rapidly gaining momentum with sales on Amazon.com topping hardcover books.
Amazon, which sells the Kindle unit, says sales of the e-reader and e-books have tripled in recent months.
For 40 years, David Dollin has been in the book business. Now he's running Nicholas Hoare books in Ottawa. He says the e-book shift is a serious challenge facing the industry.
"Everyone in the publishing business is trying to figure out how to handle the change. They can no longer figure out the pricing strategy to pay royalties to authors and some who have committed millions to build warehouses that are a mile long will have to deal with the change," he said.
Dollin says he's seen the shift coming for years, and even he may take the plunge to get an e-reader, which is portable and appealing to a lot of people.
The Kindle was the first device to really make an impact with consumers. Sold by Amazon, the price was recently slashed to compete with the iPad. Since then, sales have tripled.
"I take it everywhere with me. It's in my bag and I just find it so handy and so I take it everywhere with me," said Karen Taggert, who uses a Kindle.
In Canada, the book business is worth nearly $3 billion. The largest retailer, Chapters-Indigo, jumped into the e-book market earlier this year by launching a new e-reader called the Kobo. With the lowest price in the market, combined with millions of e-book titles, the Kobo is attractive.
Company CEO Michael Sirbinis says sales have been "astonishing" and "tripled in the last quarter."
"E-books are likely seven per cent of the book market now and may be 25 per cent within five years," he said.
E-books are clearly opening a new chapter in the book business. Kate Reston teaches literature. So far, she hasn't seen e-books in schools in a big way, but she says that could change.
"One student I have reads a few novels a week and he is sold on them and is trying to convince me to use them."
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Paul Brent
