電子書(shū)銷(xiāo)量持續(xù)下滑 年輕一代愛(ài)上紙質(zhì)書(shū)

Readers committed to physical books can give a sigh of relief, as new figures reveal that ebook sales are falling while sales of paper books are growing – and the shift is being driven by younger generations.

紙質(zhì)書(shū)的死忠可以松一口氣了，新數(shù)據(jù)顯示電子書(shū)銷(xiāo)量正在下滑，而紙質(zhì)書(shū)的銷(xiāo)量則在上升，而且這一轉(zhuǎn)變是由年輕一代驅(qū)動(dòng)的。

More than 360m books were sold in 2016 – a 2% jump in a year that saw UK consumers spend an extra 6%, or £100m, on books in print and ebook formats, according to findings by the industry research group Nielsen in its annual books and consumer survey. The data also revealed good news for bricks-and-mortar bookshops, with a 4% rise in purchases across the UK.

根據(jù)市場(chǎng)調(diào)研公司尼爾森的報(bào)告，2016年英國(guó)售出超3.6億本書(shū)，英國(guó)消費(fèi)者在紙質(zhì)書(shū)和電子書(shū)上花費(fèi)總計(jì)達(dá)1億英鎊(合8.5億元人民幣)，數(shù)量和金額分別比上一年多出2%和6%。數(shù)據(jù)還顯示，實(shí)體書(shū)店生意好轉(zhuǎn)，去年英國(guó)實(shí)體書(shū)店銷(xiāo)量總體上漲4%。

While sales through shops increased 7% in 2016, ebook sales declined by 4%. It is the second year in a row that ebook sales have fallen, and only the second time that annual ebook sales have done so since industry bodies began monitoring sales a decade ago.

盡管2016年英國(guó)書(shū)店銷(xiāo)量總體上漲7%，但是電子書(shū)的銷(xiāo)量卻下降了4%。這是電子書(shū)銷(xiāo)量連續(xù)第二年下跌，自從行業(yè)協(xié)會(huì)十年前開(kāi)始監(jiān)控電子書(shū)銷(xiāo)量以來(lái)，這是電子書(shū)年度銷(xiāo)量第二次出現(xiàn)下滑。

In 2015, the Publishers Association found that digital content sales had fallen from £563m in 2014 to £554m, while physical book sales HAD increased from £2.74bn to £2.76bn. The Bookseller also discovered a similar result, finding in its own report about the five biggest general trade publishers in the UK – Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Pan Macmillan and Simon & Schuster – that their ebook sales collectively fell 2.4% in 2015.

2015年，英國(guó)出版商協(xié)會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，電子書(shū)銷(xiāo)售額從2014年的5.63億英鎊降至5.54億英鎊，而紙質(zhì)書(shū)的銷(xiāo)售額則從27.4億英鎊升至27.6億英鎊。《書(shū)商》周刊在其對(duì)英國(guó)五大出版商(企鵝、阿歇特、哈珀柯林斯、麥克米倫、西蒙與舒斯特)的調(diào)查報(bào)告中也發(fā)現(xiàn)了相似的結(jié)果，2015年這五大出版商的電子書(shū)銷(xiāo)量整體下降2.4%。

The shift was attributed to the explosion in adult colouring books, as well as a year of high-profile fiction releases, including The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. “Readers take a pleasure in a physical book that does not translate well on to digital,” the Publishers Association report read.

這一轉(zhuǎn)變要?dú)w功于成人涂色書(shū)銷(xiāo)量的暴漲，以及該年度幾部備受矚目的小說(shuō)的出版，包括寶拉•霍金斯的《火車(chē)上的女孩》和哈珀•李的《設(shè)立守望者》。出版商協(xié)會(huì)的報(bào)告寫(xiě)道：“讀者在紙質(zhì)書(shū)中能享受到電子書(shū)所無(wú)法傳達(dá)的東西。”

But Nielsen’s survey of 2016 attributed the increase in print sales to children’s fiction and to younger generations preferring physical books to e-readers. A 2013 survey by the youth research agency Voxburner found that 62% of 16- to 24-year-olds preferred print books to ebooks. The most popular reason given was: “I like to hold the product.” While Nielsen found that 50% of all fiction sales were in ebook format, only 4% of children’s fiction was digital.

然而，尼爾森的2016年度調(diào)查將紙質(zhì)書(shū)銷(xiāo)量的上漲歸因于童話書(shū)以及更愛(ài)讀紙質(zhì)書(shū)的年輕一代。青年研究機(jī)構(gòu)Voxburner 的2013年度調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，16到24歲的年輕人有62%更愛(ài)讀紙質(zhì)書(shū)而非電子書(shū)。他們給出的最普遍的原因是：“我喜歡捧著書(shū)本的感覺(jué)。”與此同時(shí)，尼爾森發(fā)現(xiàn)，售出的小說(shuō)中有50%是電子書(shū)，但售出的童話書(shū)中只有4%是電子書(shū)。

Steve Bohme, research director at Nielsen Book Research UK, who presented the data on Monday ahead of this year’s London book fair, said young people were using books as a break from their devices or social media. “We are seeing that books are a respite, particularly for young people who are so busy digitally,” he said.

13日，尼爾森圖書(shū)研究公司英國(guó)區(qū)的研究室主任史蒂夫•伯梅在本年度的倫敦書(shū)展舉行前夕發(fā)表了這些數(shù)據(jù)。他表示，年輕人通過(guò)閱讀圖書(shū)從電子設(shè)備和社交媒體中獲得喘息機(jī)會(huì)。伯梅說(shuō)：“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)書(shū)籍成為一種小憩的方式，特別是對(duì)那些終日埋頭于電子產(chǎn)品的年輕人而言。”

“Over the last few years we have seen a return to favouring print, partly from what is really successful, this year being non-fiction and children’s books,” he said. While adult colouring books were popular in 2015, last year saw books about healthy cooking and the latest Harry Potter sell well – which Bohme noted are “books that tend to translate better in the print form”.

他說(shuō)道：“過(guò)去幾年我們發(fā)現(xiàn)人們又開(kāi)始回歸紙質(zhì)書(shū)，其中一部分原因是這幾年出版了一些非常成功的作品，而今年則是因?yàn)榉切≌f(shuō)類(lèi)書(shū)籍和兒童圖書(shū)。”2015年成人涂色書(shū)大熱，去年最暢銷(xiāo)的則是健康烹飪類(lèi)書(shū)籍和最新一部《哈利•波特》——伯梅指出“這些書(shū)都是紙質(zhì)書(shū)的閱讀體驗(yàn)更好。”

The Nielsen survey contained another first: mobile phones and tablets overtook e-readers as the most common device used to read ebooks, with readers favouring multifunctional devices over dedicated e-reader brands such as Kindle and Nook.

尼爾森的調(diào)查還發(fā)現(xiàn)了另一個(gè)“第一”：手機(jī)和平板電腦首次超越電子閱讀器成為閱讀電子書(shū)最常用的設(shè)備。比起Kindle和Nook等專(zhuān)用電子閱讀器，讀者更愛(ài)用多功能設(shè)備看書(shū)。

While ebook sales had plateaued, Bohme said it was important to remember that the figures were still higher than they were five years ago, holding a 25% share in 2016, compared with 26% in 2015 and 18% in 2012. The average ebook price increased to £7.

雖然電子書(shū)銷(xiāo)量陷入停滯，伯梅表示，我們要記住，電子書(shū)的市場(chǎng)占有率還是比五年前高，2016年電子書(shū)占比25%，2015年占比26%，而2012年電子書(shū)只占18%。此外，電子書(shū)的平均價(jià)格上漲到了7英鎊。

Bohme said ebooks sales would continue to decline in 2017, barring a new development in e-reader technology. “One thing we’ve seen is that when print sales surge, industry confidence in the print increases. If publishers are confident, they can have huge success,” he said. “If we have a couple of years of that success story, print sales will keep going up.”

伯梅說(shuō)，電子書(shū)的銷(xiāo)量在2017年會(huì)繼續(xù)下滑，這將阻礙電子閱讀技術(shù)的進(jìn)一步發(fā)展。他說(shuō)道：“有一件事我們是可以預(yù)見(jiàn)的，當(dāng)紙質(zhì)書(shū)銷(xiāo)量上漲時(shí)，行業(yè)對(duì)紙質(zhì)書(shū)的信心就會(huì)增強(qiáng)。如果出版商有信心，他們就會(huì)獲得巨大成功。如果這種成功持續(xù)幾年，紙質(zhì)書(shū)的銷(xiāo)量將會(huì)不斷上升。”