Why you can’t even judge a holiday ebook by its hi-tech cover

The toppling armful of hardbacks with titles such as Leadership on the Line and The Last Campaign he took on holiday were construed as possibly signs of insecurity, chosen by someone who still saw himself as an apprentice. If only he had loaded up a Kindle as he and the family headed off to the beach; he’d have reduced the weight on the car axles and escaped the unwelcome scrutiny.

If Miliband lightens up with a bestseller occasionally that was not the impression he wanted to give. Surveys have shown that as many as a third of us worry about how we might be judged by what we are seen reading on holiday, to the extent that we will pack a Barack Obama or Proust when really we’d rather be reading Stephen King or Sophie Kinsella.

However, while it is good fun to walk up and down the beach and see what everyone is reading, whether there are one or two dominant books and measure how gripping certain reads must be by how little the people reading them go for a swim or bother to apply the sun cream, judging a reader by their book can be a futile business.

Some of the brightest people I know take to the beach every summer with a huge sigh of relief and a pile of popular fiction that may include the likes of Maeve Binchy, John Grisham, Sidney Sheldon, Lee Child and possibly Katie Price. They don’t give a fig what anyone thinks, and certainly not a bunch of strangers. They wouldn’t dream of resisting a bodice-ripper or thriller and pretending interest in a philosophy or political history book for the sake of ‘beach cred’. The truth is that, amusing though it may be to try and judge a person by their choice of books, it’s actually not that easy.

The boom in electronic readers mean that those who like to make crass judgments will probably have to resort to some other yardstick – choice of cocktail/beer, tell-tale labels on clothing/sunglasses? – and those who worry about how they might be judged can read what they like without fear of being thought a flibbertigibbet for liking Jackie Collins. Mills and Boon ebook sales are through the roof.

Predictions at the beginning of the year for the growth in sales of electronic books forecast that they would out-sell hard copies by 2015. The forecast is now being revised, as the ebook market booms. In January digital popular fiction comprised three per cent of consumer sales; by early summer they were six per cent, and they’ve now hit 10 per cent. Irish novelist Maeve Binchy alone accounts for 30 per cent of digital commercial fiction sales. Her books are fat and juicy, and you can’t fit many hard copies into your meagre low-cost flight allowance. Not sure how many to digital versions to take? It doesn’t matter, as you can buy a replacement online as and when you finish each one.

In July sales of hardback books fell by five per cent and paperbacks by 17 per cent. Even accounting for the economy and some people not affording to holiday this year, digital sales are mopping up. We’re seeing fewer and fewer books falling apart thanks to salt water and Mediterranean breezes.

One downside of ebooks is that we can’t get ideas for future reading if we don’t see the cover of the novel being devoured on the sunbed next door. On the other hand, anyone who seeks to judge others will have to bother to introduce themselves first. Not necessarily a good thing.

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