The Telegraphreports that the Oxford English Dictionary will never be printed again. Oxford University Press says the print dictionary market is rapidly fading away. The dictionary will probably only be printed online from now on.

"The print dictionary market is just disappearing, it is falling away by tens of per cent a year," Nigel Portwood, the chief executive of OUP, told the Sunday Times. Asked if he thought the third edition would be printed, he said: "I don't think so."

Almost one third of a million entries were contained in the second version of the OED, published in 1989 across 20 volumes. The next full edition is still estimated to be more than a decade away from completion; only 28 per cent has been finished to date.

The AP also has a story here about the end of the print edition of the dictionary. The third edition of the dictionary is only 25% finished. By the time OUP's lexicographers have completed the third edition, the market for the print version may be gone.

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The Wall Street Journal's Digits blog reports that Laura Lippman's new thriller, I'd Know You Anywhere, sold more ebooks than hardcovers during its first five days on sale. Frank Albanese, a senior vice president at HarperCollins, says enough people now have ereaders that a good review can give a book a "faster lift on the digital side."

"This is the first book of ours of any consequence that has sold more e-books than hardcovers in the first week," said Frank Albanese, a senior vice president at HarperCollins. "What we're seeing now is that if a book gets a good review, it gets a faster lift on the digital side than it does on the physical side because people who have e-readers can buy and read it immediately."

Amazon.com announced in July that it was selling more ebooks than hardcovers. Authors and publishers are now also starting to see ebooks outsell hardcovers. The Digits post says some experts believe ebooks could be 20% to 25% of publishers' total revenue by the end of 2012. The Ebook version outselling the hardcover version of a new novel will probably be a common occurrence by then.

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