The book industry had anticipated reaching a milestone soon, but not many had expected it to happen so early. Just three years following the launching of the Kindle electronic reading device by Amazon, the largest online book industry spilled out that it was at present making sales of more Kindle books than paper books.

Along with a 36% increase in the sales of the fourth-quarter all around the world, Amazon reported that since the start of 2010 it had made sales of 115 Kindle e-books per 100 paperback book sales on the US website. What is equally impressive is that according to the online specialist, the site had made sales of thrice as many books of Kindle as the hardcover books.

This measurement does not include the free e-books though. If the free e-books had been accounted for, the shift would have seemed additionally stunning.

According to Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, the giant had made sales of at least millions of the newest, third-generation Kindles. He added that last July they had declared that the Kindle books had passed hardcovers and foretold that Kindle would exceed paperbacks in the next quarter of 2011.