The Internet and especially online buying platforms such as Amazon has stirred the trend in people’s reading habits. It’s not just because the general population has started to read more but it is simply a matter of accessibility. Today, we see children and youngsters holding phones and tablets reading their favorite comic or book; business people and travelers getting their dose of reading on the move. This is because there are multiple avenues to get a book from. Where most people find it difficult to visit a library or are lazy to go to a bookstore, online platforms makes life easy in more than one way. They buy a book without having to go anywhere, there are options to read a sample, they get recommendations for similar books, most online platforms keep track of one’s preferences and there are tremendous discounts. The biggest perk is that you don’t really have to buy a copy of the book, just get an eBook. eBooks could work out to be cheaper in most cases and can easily be stored in your device. What’s better than having a portable library?

Now, let’s talk about one of the world’s largest online bookstore – Amazon! It houses almost all kinds of print books and eBooks with people buying on a daily basis. Many publishers and authors get their books featured on Amazon because of the number of people it draws. Having your book listed on Amazon alone can make a difference in its sales. Here are some interesting facts about Amazon’s book sales. It sells about 1,064,000 eBooks on an average per day and this is just eBooks. It has close to 1.8 million print titles available for sale. Books receive a bestseller rank based on the number of copies sold, which are controlled by a predictive feature. Moreover, they sell audio books, board books and Kindle. The Kindle as a singular product has been revolutionary. Allowing readers to download anything from Amazon’s storehouse of eBooks and other short reads in less than a minute, the Kindle also lists a number of books that are probably not available anywhere else. Amazon’s eBooks are all accessible through Kindle. The first Kindle e-reader was launched in 2007 and sold out in less than 6 hours. It has been a huge success since the beginning with all ages rushing to get one. Why people love the Kindle? It is portable, reduces the negative health effects of reading on a device, allows you to read samples and browse through millions of book collections, allows you to buy in under a minute, features can be regularly updated and, most importantly, it is offered by Amazon.

Therefore, the Amazon platform and its products alone have given rise to an epidemic in reading such that many non-readers are now converting. Imagine the other platforms, print copies and a host of distribution sites that make books available to every corner of the planet. Education, the search for more knowledge, business and other factors has also played a major role in the increasing trends in reading. However, that is a discussion for later. Today, it is almost necessary to conclude that Amazon has sensationalized the humble book.