The increasing popularity of social media might suggest people have less time to read books.
社交媒体的持续火爆或许意味着人们用于读书的时间越来越少了。
However, the book industry remains big business.
然而，图书业依然是一大产业。
Wealthy, populous countries are home to the world’s five biggest book markets.
世界上最大的五个图书市场都位于富裕且人口众多的国家。
And despite the increasing use of new tech, most readesrs still opt for print.
尽管有越来越多的新技术被利用，但纸质书依然是绝大多数读者的第一选择。
In America, printed books dominated the market.
在美国，纸质书在市场中占据着主导地位。
In fact, for 40% of Americans, print is all they’ll read. Just 6% have switched to digital versions for good.
实际上，40%的美国人只读纸质书，只有6%选择了电子书。
Sales of print books in America totaled just over 15 billion dollars in 2009, a figure projected to drop by almost half by 2018.
在美国，纸质书在2009年的销售额略高于150亿美元，据预测，到2018年。这一数字将会减少几乎一半。
But the volume of the country’s ebook sales has also dropped.
但与之相应的，电子书的销量也有所下滑。
One reason for this dip could be cost.
价格，可能是造成销量下滑的一个原因。
The average price of an ebook in America is approximately 9 dollars.
在美国，一本电子书的平均售价大约为9美元。
That’s around 1 dollar more than a mass-produced paperback.
这比一本大规模生产的平装书贵出了将近1美元。
Unless the price of ebooks decreases, the printed version is likely to remain the first choice for most readers for some time to come.
除非电子书的售价有所降低，否则在未来的一段时间内，纸质书很可能依然是大多数读者的第一选择。
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