Why genre fiction is an e-reader's best friend

In 1997, crime writer David Hewson published a novel called Epiphany. A literary thriller with a time-shifting narrative, it got good reviews and sold well. A few years later he wrote Native Rites, a more conventional horror story with a straightforward plot. This sold far fewer copies and was remaindered within a year.

But Hewson had a soft spot for Native Rites and eventually decided to self-publish it as an ebook. He did the same with Epiphany. To his surprise, Native Rites has been the bigger hit, outselling Epiphany by three to one. Musing on why, Hewson posits a theory: is e-reading better suited to simple, linear narratives than it is to complex, more literary fiction?

Hewson knows his research is far from scientific – there could be plenty of reasons for the disparity in sales – but I think he's on to something. Partly this is about how we use e-readers. The Kindle's portability makes it an ideal travelling companion. Perhaps stressed-out commuters are more likely to opt for an easy read than someone at home in an armchair.

But Hewson suspects it is also the devices themselves. As he puts it, e-readers turn novels into a "continuous scroll". They favour fast-paced narratives with a clear beginning, middle and end.

Anyone who's used an e-reader will relate to this. There's something about having fewer words to a page, the instant page-turning, the percentage bar (37% complete… 84% complete) that encourages you to hurtle through an ebook. I find I'm less likely to linger over a sentence, or turn back to something in a previous chapter.

As genre fiction continues to dominate the ebook charts, it seems that with e-reading, the medium is shaping the message.