A recent report from the National Endowment for the Arts revealed that the number of people that read fiction is on the rise for the first time in twenty-five years. Why are people suddenly rediscovering fiction after a quarter of a century? There are a number of reasonable explanations. To begin with, the industry has been moving away from print media and towards electronic media in recent years. As you might expect, electronic media is far more affordable for both producers and consumers, which translates into higher sales and larger profit margins. In fact, one of the most popular technological gadgets in the world is the electronic reader. These devices give users the ability to download books directly from the internet for a fraction of the cost of books that are made of from paper and ink. You don't need to own luxury villas in Spain to rent to know that electronic books are the future of the industry. One current, occasionally cantankerous debate in the publishing industry is whether or not these devices are good for the fiction market. That is a difficult question to answer. But one thing we know for sure is that electronic fiction reading is on the rise. According to the world's largest bookseller, Amazon.com, about one in every three purchases on their website is an e-book. That is an increase of about fifty percent in a single year. Clearly, electronic readers are the future of fiction.
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