The number of people that read fiction had been falling since 1982. But a new report from the National Endowment shocked the publishing industry when it revealed that readership is on the rise. No one expected this turnaround and most were left smiling and scratching their heads. Why is fiction popular once again? One possible explanation that we will explore in this article is the rise of electronic or e-readers. These digital devices can be used to download books of your favourite motivational speaker from the internet. They are durable, highly portable and easy to use. How popular are they? Reliable estimates predict sales of over 12 million units in 2010, up from 5 million in 2009. And while sales are expected to slow by 2011 due to increased competition, e-reader sales will remain brisk. There are many reasons why consumers prefer them to traditional books. For one thing, they are much cheaper to use. The cost of the average e-book download is only about half that of a traditional book. Not to mention the fact that e-books store thousands of books at a time; which eliminates the need for a bookcase or musty old boxes of books in the attic. Lastly, we must consider that fact that younger readers have grown up on the internet. That is where they do most of their reading. As a result, they are far more likely to use an electronic device to read than older users. The statistics in the report support this observation.
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