"There is generally a sense that people are now getting screen tiredness, or fatigue, from so many devices being used, watched or looked at in their week," Stephen Lotinga, chief executive of the Publishers Association said. "[Printed] books provide an opportunity to step away from that."

That's not to say ebooks don't have a place in the industry. Overall "digital sales" increased by 6 percent to £1.7 billion, and now account for 35 percent of industry revenue. That's mostly due to academic journals and professional textbooks, which rose 6 percent to £277 million in 2016. The ebook market is important for smaller authors who want to self-publish or write novella-length works. That breadth of titles, some of which you'll never find in a brick-and-mortar store, is part of what makes ereaders so attractive. If nothing else, today's numbers show that the two formats can coexist, facilitating readers in different, but equally valuable ways.