Cheap fiction books obviously form the major sales source of all bookseller and publishers the world over. After the number of copies that a Harry Potter or a Steig Larsson title sells cannot be outdone by any other genre of books.
Of course, cheap fiction book deals play an important role in this too. Robert Ludlum David Baldacci, Sydney Sheldon,and Isaac Asimov hold as much impact on our lives as say a Shakepeare,George Orwell, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen or Ernest Hemingway. Or more. For most avid readiers, curling up with a Dan Brown is something to look forward to than say any one of the classics. It is not they are simply not interested in readnig literature or stuff that is more serioud, philosophical or that catering to our culture, intellect etc.
The online market place is full of online books of all kinds and sizes. And the list of author is also never ending with Ken Foliette, John Grisham, James Hadley Chase, Agatha Christie, Nora Roberts, Robert Moravia, Desmond Bagley Alistair Maclean, Danielle Steele, Rebecca Maizel, Charlie Higson, Jeffery Archer and so on. The names are actually never ending. And even within fiction, there are the sub categories based on the subject areas touched upon. You thus have thrillers, romances, horror, pure drama, books on the legalilty of things, science fiction, fantasy, fictionalised stories on a particular community or profession, etc. Again, here the number of books that are getting written are endless and the opporutunities for more such fiction books immense.
In fact, even books written by people like Ayn Rand, Paul Coelho, Salman Rushdie, V.S. Naipaul, and others and the innumerable tomes written on the ongoing Iraq and Afghanitan wars and on terrorism and Taliban are or can be put under the broad category of ficton. Though some of them do capture and talk about real like people and situations. These days, Steig Larsson' Millennium Trilogy including the run away succeses The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl with the Dragon Tatto are just one instance of where pure fiction can bring about such an impact on people's minds and their lives for that matter. It is a different matter altogether that the author himself is no more to witness the overwhelming accestance his works have receive the world over. Cheap books are here to stay.