Cheaper e-books and the emergence of an Apple e-reader are reported as the main factors in driving digital publishing forward, according to a landmark survey of more than 1,000 book trade professionals by Bookseller. The survey found that 88% of respondents thought bookshops would lose out from the growth in digital sales.

The majority of respondents said that e-books should be priced at the same cost as a paperback book (30.1%), or cheaper (53.6%) but there was also concern that low priced e-books could devalue other editions. One respondent stressed that it was “important not to devalue the work that has gone into writing, editing and formatting the content”.

Apple was named as the company which would come out ‘top’ in the e-reader wars with support from 52% despite not even having a dedicated e-reader out on the market as yet: Amazon was a close second, with Sony third.

Whilst customers may expect ebooks to be cheaper than their paperback counterparts the publishers are still seeking to cover the front end costs of production of the original work.

So the discussion continues on digital books, e-readers, pricing and formatting. Ultimately it will be the consumer that decides.