Apple has just shifted its eBook platform into the education sphere, and online e-tailer giant Amazon has already been outselling its own stock of print books with eBooks, not including free eBooks being snapped up by readers.

Australian booksellers are being outgunned by overseas competitors, but industry papers point to a strong potential future given the right government reforms and reshaped business practices.

A market analysis of the book industry by PriceWaterhouseCoopers last year for the Book Industry Strategy Group found that Australian booksellers were being outpriced not only by foreign digital distributors but even foreign print book exporters.

"A bookstore in Sydney now has to compete with not only its rivals down the street, but also the likes of Amazon and Book Depository. These online giants are also challenging the business models of publishers, as the latter were traditionally the only source of imported books into Australia," said the paper.

A British business could potentially post the same sized parcel as an Australian business to an Australian address at around 90 per cent less than the local competitor.

"Relative to other retail industries, the Australian book industry underperformed over the past decade.

"The eBook market in Australia is projected to reach between $150 million and $700 million in 2014, representing between 6 per cent and 24 per cent of total estimated book sales."

A report just issued by the Pew Research Centre found that a quarter of the US population use a digital reading device, whether it be an iPad or Amazon Kindle.

Australia is losing out to foreign book and ebook resellers on the back of GST, an unfavourable exchange rate, wholesale book prices and postage costs.

The Government is set to respond to a report from its book industry advisory body, the Book Industry Strategy Group (BISG), early this year after it recommended action to protect local authors, publishers and resellers.

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