They're Very Slowly Getting Away

One of my favorite Simpson's episodes includes a scene where Homer and Bart are fleeing the people of Springfield. The joke is that Homer has chosen a parade float to escape in. One of the mob shouts, "They're very slowly getting away!"

This came to mind when I saw this WSJ article titled: Amazon Says E-Book Sales Outpace Hardcovers. So we are in the midst of that moment when ebooks start to outsell traditional books. Now, this just Amazon, but a milestone it is nonetheless.

"Over the past month, the Seattle retailer sold 180 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books it sold, it said."

Almost 2 to 1. BUT, according to some others, there's no need to worry:

"As for the effect on paperbacks, Madeline McIntosh, president, sales, operations and digital at Bertelsmann AG's Random House Inc., said: "Our conclusion is that there's no data to prove any connection—good or bad—between growth in e-books and the growth or decline, in trade paperback sales. ... If anything, we may be seeing a positive effect in which the steady pace of e-book sales helps to keep a book in front-of-mind for a growing number of consumers after hardcover momentum slows."

I would expect more milestones of this sort in the near future, and the slow get away will accelerate.

In the Simpsons, the chase scene was all a set up for Moe to say:

"They're going to the Old Mill."

Homer replies, "No we're not."

The punchline comes with Moe saying, "Well let's go to the Old Mill anyway and get some cider."

I wonder what the response will be from traditional publishing houses. Most likely more than going to the Old Mill to get cider.