With each new holiday season the reach of ereaders expands, as a new crop of Kindles, Nooks and iPads are fired up. The first thing to do is download a few books.
Just a few years after ebooks and ereaders first emerged as futuristic curiosity, they are fully mainstream now. Even among the avid, book-worshiping, old-school readers that frequent The Millions, ebooks are very popular. Looking at the statistics that Amazon provides us, just over a third of all the books bought by Millions readers at Amazon after clicking on our links this year were Kindle ebooks. Last year, it was one in four, and now this year one in three books bought by Millions readers were ebooks.
So, for all those readers unwrapping shiny new devices, here are some links to get you going.
For starters, here are the top-12 most popular ebooks purchased by Millions readers in 2012. You’ll notice that these aren’t all that different from the overall Millions favorites. Of course, this list also favors ebook originals, some of which appear in the “Kindle Single” format and are bite-size books available for lower prices. Meanwhile, publishers appear to still be having luck pricing ebooks pricing above the magic $9.99 number that has been a focus for many in the industry.
The Getaway Car: A Practical Memoir About Writing and Life by Ann Patchett ($2.51)
A Naked Singularity by Sergio De La Pava ($5.13)
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace ($3.99)
Pulphead by John Jeremiah Sullivan ($9.99)
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson ($9.99)
The Bathtub Spy by Tom Rachman ($1.99)
This How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz ($12.99)
Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace by D.T. Max ($14.99)
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn ($12.99)
Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon ($9.99)
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt ($9.43)
An Arrangement of Light by Nicole Krauss ($1.99)
Other potentially useful ebook links:
Editors’ Picks
Best of 2012
Top 100 Paid and Free
Kindle Singles
And in this fractured ebook landscape, you’ve also got your NookBooks, Google ebooks, Apple ibooks, and the IndieBound ereader app that lets you buy ebooks from your favorite indie bookstore. Finally, don’t forget Project Gutenberg, the original purveyor of free ebooks (mostly out-of-copyright classics) available for years.
Happy Reading!
