Kindle overtakes print at Amazon (From Runcorn and Widnes World)

Kindle overtakes print at Amazon

12:05am Monday 6th August 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013

Internet retailer Amazon.co.uk now sells more Kindle books than printed books, according to figures released by the company.

The firm, which started selling the downloadable books in the UK in August 2010, said this year it has sold 114 Kindle titles for every 100 print books.

That includes both hardback and paperback but does not include Kindle titles that are available free.

"Customers in the UK are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books, even as our print business continues to grow.

"We hit this milestone in the United States less than four years after introducing Kindle, so to reach this landmark after just two years in the UK is remarkable and shows how quickly UK readers are embracing Kindle," said Jorrit Van der Meulen, vice president of Kindle EU.

"As a result of the success of Kindle, we're selling more books than ever before on behalf of authors and publishers. And thanks to Kindle Direct Publishing, thousands of self-published authors have also been given an outlet to share their work with the millions of Kindle readers worldwide."

The most popular author in the Kindle store so far this year is Fifty Shades of Grey writer EL James who has sold more than two million of the digital books in four months.