Readers are beginning to shun e-books in favour of their traditional counterparts as physical book sales surged to £3 billion last year.

Total book sales, including physical books, rose 7% while sales of e-books fell 3% to £538 million, according to the Publishers Association.

The figures show non-fiction sales were up 9% to £884 million - boosted by books including the high-profile Lean In 15 series by Joe Wicks.

Children's books sales increased 16% to £365 million - and exports of them increased 34% to £116 million, with the total export figure rose 6% to £2.6 billion.

Joe Wicks published three books in 2016, each of which went to No 1 Credit: PA

The Publishers Association told ITV News: "The reasons behind this are varied. People are increasingly looking for opportunities to escape screens, particularly for their children.

"Publishers are creating striking front covers which are attracting readers. We are seeing a resurgence of the high street bookshop. And, at the end of the day, a book is already the ultimate portable device."

Cathryn Summerhayes, a literary agent at Curtis Brown, added in The Guardian: "I guess everyone wants a piece of trendy tech and, unfortunately, there aren’t trendy tech reading devices and I don’t think people are reading long-form fiction on their phones.

"I think your average reader would say that one of the great pleasures of reading is the physical turning of the page. It slows you down and makes you think."