What a curious juxtaposition of book-related news we’ve had in recent weeks: MPG expands with CUP deal and then announces an investment of £4m in new book printing kit. CPI had a record-breaking July fulfilling demand for actual printed copies of EL James’ Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. And this week Amazon announces that UK ebook sales for its Kindle reader have outstripped physical books. Is this the tipping point, then, for the printed book? Will volumes fall off a cliff in the same way that music CDs did? Judging by the other information in the Amazon statement, it’s a bit premature to predict the last chapter for proper books. It’s taken just two years for ebook sales to overtake sales of both hardback and physical books combined. During those two years Amazon has been pushing its Kindle hard in order to gain critical mass. It now has it. However, in the Amazon press release the online retail behemoth also states that its printed book business “continues to grow”. And as previously noted, the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon has involved a bestselling ebook transitioning to become a surprising bestseller in print, too. In its interim results St Ives said that book printing volumes overall were down 6-7%, although it had grown market share. Will that volume figure have hit double figures come the year-end announcement? It really is a mixed picture, and a gripping story in itself.