Sales of electronic books fell by the greatest drop since e-books were first marketed.
E-book sales had been growing robustly, except for a small dip in 2013.
But in the first five months of 2015, sales were down by 10% compared to the same period in 2014, according to the Association of American Publishers.
The latest figures showed US e-book sales (not including educational texts) of $610m (£400m).
Sales of printed books also dropped, but at the much slower rate of 2.3%.
Readers took up the e-book habit with alacrity over the past few years, but their share of the market has levelled more recently, accounting for 23% of the market in 2014, according to the association.
"In the early years of e-books, the percentage growth from physical books to digital books was rapid.
“Now that e-reading is fully integrated into a consumer's choice of options, the market has begun to stabilize," Tina Jordan of the association said.
The association tracks monthly sales of 1,200 publishers and has monitored e-book sales since 2002.
Comments
http://the-digital-reader.com/2015/09/23/nytimes-mistakes-legacy-publishing-stats-for-market-stats-foresees-the-decline-of-ebooks/
But it is actually last years text and the one before and before that ad infinitum. Maybe slightly altered which in theory means it is useless in the 2nd hand market. But requiring the student to enter their comments in the book itself. Handing that in to be marked. 30 to 40 euros new. A full set of say 5 for that year being 250 to 300 euros.
But cunning parents are giving their kids last years book or the years before with the results tipexed out. Not ideal as a standard of education for the EU - but this is Portugal.