10 to 1

In case you've been wondering about the ratio of ebook to physical book sales to date, that's it. Ten to one. I'm not sure if this is a function of the extreme cheapness of the ebook edition, at least initially (it's now merely cheap at $2.99, as opposed to extremely so at its former $0.99), or if it reflects the overwhelming platform preference of an audience that's been reached almost exclusively via social media so far. Either way, the disparity is striking.

I have mixed feelings about these data. (Yes, "data" is plural. Look it up.) On the one hand, I made about the same per-unit profit on a $0.99 ebook as I did on a paperback priced at $7.99, which was the initial price point of the physical book. (It's now $9.99.) So the mercantile implications are almost irrelevant. On the other hand, I get a dose of pleasure and a sense of accomplishment holding the physical product, with its beautiful design by Murray H. Smith and gorgeous photography by Noel Kerns, that the ebook just can't provide. Maybe that's just me, though. And it seems hard to deny that the ebook is, even up, a more successful product so far.(Whether the ebook and the physical book can really be said to measure against each other even up is a topic for another day.)

Anyway, there it is: Ten to one. Ebooks win, and not in a squeaker. Ebooks are, to steal a quote from the book, the Globetrotters to the physical book's Washington Generals.