Book Downloads Serve up Saucy Surprise

23 August 2010
News release

Whitcoulls e-Books Back in Stock & Downloads Serve up Saucy Surprise

The e-Books Kiwis are downloading from Whitcoulls has served up a saucy surprise.

While the all-conquering Stieg Larsson Millennium trilogy is right at the top of the list, some of the next most popular titles have raised a few eyebrows.

“Chick lit is particularly strong and there are a few thrillers in there but what took us by surprise was the rise of erotica,” said Whitcoulls marketing manager Catherine Collins.

Six Sexy Stories: Erotica by Ginger Starr romped in as the sixth most downloaded title while Triple Heat by Jolene Beauchamp is high on the list too.

Whitcoulls launched its Kobo e-Reader and e-Books platform in May and both have proved extremely popular with Kiwi readers, with devices selling out in the first three days. New shipments have since arrived to meet the ongoing demand, which is expected to be particularly high around Father’s Day!

“Women aged 35 to 45 are currently the biggest users of e-Readers which is why romantic fiction, particularly Mills & Boon is figuring strongly in our sales,” said Collins.

“We’re also selling more e-Book copies of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy than online hard copies which is really saying something.”

Collins said Whitcoulls was selling Kobo e-Readers particularly well at its airport stores where people are more conscious of carrying large numbers of physical books with them. “The number of thrillers being downloaded suggests people are taking them on their holidays for easy poolside reading.”

At NZ$295, the Kobo, with 100 free books already on it and access to over 2 million other eBooks, is New Zealand’s biggest provider of eBook content. Unlike other more expensive devices, it offers an open format allowing you to download ePub and PDF eBooks from any source while its cloud environment makes your library available on almost any device.

“Customers tell us they want to be able to touch and feel the device before committing to a purchase of this nature and they want to know there is a local store or person to come back to if they have any issues with such a new technology,” said Collins. “Whitcoulls is completely focused on providing customers with local NZ content which also sets us apart from the large US players in this market.”

Kobo owners are buying a third of the e-Books downloaded, with the other two-thirds being sold directly through the very popular free Whitcoulls’ applications for the iPhone, iPad, PC or Mac.

In the first 12 weeks, the 20 most popular e-Book titles downloaded from www.whitcoulls.co.nz were:
No 1 – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
No 2 - The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
No 3 – The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson
No 4 - An Inconvenient Marriage by Ruth Ann Nordin
No 5 – 61 Hours by Lee Child
No 6 - Six Sexy Stories: Erotica By Ginger Starr
No 7 – The Pact by Jodi Picoult
No 8 – Microbe by Bill Clem
No 9 – At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson
No 10 – Extreme Measures: A Thriller by Vince Flynn
No 11 – Run For Your Life by James Patterson
No 12 - Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child
No 13 – A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
No 14 – Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen
No 15 – Brethren by John Grisham
No 16 – Public Secrets by Nora Roberts
No 17 – The Children of Men by P D James
No 18 – With This Ring, I Thee Dread by Ruth Ann Nordin
No 19 – Triple Heat by Jolene Beauchamp
No 20 – Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

ENDS