Visitors look for new and exciting reading at the Shanghai Book Fair. Photo: Chen Xia/GT

The Shanghai Book Fair wound down Tuesday after a week of events that saw authors from China and overseas come together to celebrate writing and reading. Readers had the opportunity to meet their favorite writers and get their hands on new releases.

The popularity of the event helped allay fears that, in a world overrun by digital screens, good old-fashioned books were in danger of dying out.

While it is true that the use of e-book readers is on the rise, there is still an appetite for reading words on the printed page. While book sales have been impacted by e-books, recent figures from Nielsen indicate that sales of traditional books in the US are beginning to stabilize. Meanwhile, book publishers are diversifying and coming up with innovative ways to supply their content across different media.

The Global Times visited bookstores in town to ask expat readers their thoughts on going digital.

Mark Jeavons, copywriter, the UK

I come here (the Foreign Languages Bookstore on Fuzhou Road) to buy the classics sometimes. The other books here are quite pricey. I do have a Kindle but sometimes it is nice to hold a proper book in your hands. So I'm not surprised to hear that sales of traditional books may be stabilizing. Perhaps some time in the far future they will die out. But I think they're here to stay for a long time. It's true that I don't read as much as I would like to, and I think that probably is because of things like the Internet and my phone.

Lisa Stacey, teacher, the US

I didn't know that the book festival was on but I think it sounds interesting. I'm not sure I would go unless I knew at least a couple of the authors. But when you connect with a book, it is natural you want to learn more about the person who wrote it. I'm trying to transition over to e-books now, purely because of space. They are far easier when traveling or moving house. Though they are not so good when you run out of battery.

Peter Smith, engineer, the UK

I think e-books are still too expensive - considering all the savings Amazon makes on them compared to real books, they are shockingly expensive. I have an old e-reader, I got it a few years ago. It is not a Kindle, but one of the cheaper Chinese models that I got here. I used it a few times but I just found it a hassle to keep it charged. And a lot of the time the files would display wrongly. There would be problems with formatting. It was just too much.

Faye, teacher, the US

I've been using my Kindle while traveling - it's really handy, especially as it has a light in it, so I can read at night in hostels without disturbing anyone. It is loaded with books too, plus I can buy new ones from pretty much anywhere. I guess it is kind of a shame that people spend all their time staring at screens. There are still plenty of books available at the hostel that other travelers have left behind. I flick through them sometimes but I don't take them with me when I move on.

Eliza, traveler, Germany

I'm here to buy textbooks. I've never even thought about reading a textbook on a Kindle - I don't think it would work very well. The screen is too small, and it's annoying when you want to flick between pages that are far apart. Also, pictures and diagrams probably won't look so good. I find I don't read so many books these days, though I read a lot of articles, mostly on my phone in fact. I use an app called Pocket that lets me save the stuff I want to read for later.

Jake Ng, designer, the UK

I have a Kindle but I still buy and read books too. Sometimes you just want the feeling of a book in your hands. Also, books look better on a shelf than a Kindle! Bookshops are better for browsing in.

I like buying books on Amazon but you don't really make impulse buys. I think it's good walking into a bookshop without knowing exactly what you want and discovering something new. I think that's the big advantage that bookshops have.

Steph Moorhouse, teacher, Ireland

I teach young kids and I think it's really important to introduce them to books as soon as possible. You see a lot of kids besotted with phones or iPads, it seems some of them can use an iPad before they can walk. So I think we need more events and promotions, otherwise kids will grow up without being exposed to books. I think reading books is important because you have to focus on one thing. It is too easy to get distracted if you are reading on a computer or your iPad.