Though millions of print books are still made each year, it costs far less to produce an e-book version than a print version, so most printers are jumping on board with the electronic age. Lots of readers are enthusiastic about this, but some people who aren't familiar with technology will be a little overwhelmed. If you've just bought your first electronic book reader and are wondering what sorts of books there are available for it, here's a general overview of the kind of topics you'll find in e-book stores.

Classic Fiction

If you're a fan of Melville, an avid Charles Dickens reader, or a Jane Austen buff, you'll be pleased to know that while it costs about $10 to buy a paper copy of a classic novel, it's free to download an e-book version. Because of the almost non-existent development cost, books that have fallen into the public domain are usually free to download from Google's e-book library, Google Books. The Kobo e-reader even comes pre-loaded with 100 free classic titles.

Non-Fiction

Though fiction is the most popular type of e-book, there are a large number of non-fiction books being released as e-book versions; however, you won't find a lot of older titles, since it tends to be newer subjects and the like that are riding the initial e-book interest wave. One of the most popular series that successfully made the transition from print to digital is the Chicken Soup for the Soul titles, which feature a great many contributors. Collaboration of this nature is greatly simplified in digital format. Some titles that are heavy on illustration, such as architectural titles and photography books, are not released in e-book format because most portable electronic readers can't display colour images or indeed images in much detail, although computers can.

Young Adult Fiction

The young adult e-book market is booming, which makes perfect sense, because teenagers and young people are usually the first group to embrace new technologies. You'll find a lot of titles about teams debating over politics or dating vampires on e-book sites. Fewer titles are available for younger children, especially chapter books and picture books, since they include illustrations and are generally read by adults to children.

Exclusive Titles

Though there are some books you won't find e-versions of, it works the other way as well. E-publishing allows authors to self-publish without laying out a lot of capital, so you'll find books about home repair after a storm tears shingles from your roof and short story collections online that do not exist in print. There are even exclusive fiction serials, like Found Press and Electric Literature, that only publish in e-book format.