Booknet Canada has released their latest report on ebook use in Canada, which always seems to be a bit contentious in writing and publishing circles.

I’m particularly interested in the subject of ebooks as my reading has been about 99% ebook for more than a decade now. But the report shows I am certainly not in the majority of readers when it comes to loving ebooks.

Some key takeaways from 2025:

• Nearly 14% of all books purchased by Canadians were ebooks.
• 71% of Canadians reported reading an ebook.
• 34% of all Canadian book buyers bought ebooks.
• 29% of all Canadian book borrowers borrowed ebooks.
• Price was often a reason cited for ebook purchases or borrows.
• Convenience and availability of ebooks were also factors.

Overall it seems ebook usage has been holding steady for the last few years. I suspect the ebook share may grow in the future, for a number of reasons:

• The growth of self-publishing, which is heavily driven by ebooks and which accounts for most new books published now.
• The demise of physical bookstores. I don’t think we’ll see much more growth with chain bookstores. There do seem to be more indies popping up, but their selection is typically smaller due to their size and they tend to serve specific niche audiences.
• Tariffs and related political/economic uncertainty. This has already been affecting the publishing industry and making it challenging to ship books into the U.S. etc.

All of these factors suggest to me that ebooks will see a boost in usage because it will just be easier to purchase books that way for many readers.

On the other hand, physical special editions are certainly growing in popularity with services like OwlCrate and Broken Binding, so perhaps there will be a renewed interest in physical books as cultural objects or fetish items. Time will tell.

Read the full report here: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/scrolling-stories-ebook-use-in-canada-2025