The writing appeared to be on the wall for physical books five years ago as readers flocked to digital in droves, but there's been an unexpected twist in this tale.

Data from the Association of American Publishers suggests that e-book sales saw a sharp 10% decline in the first five months of 2015, Digital Spy reports citing the New York Times.

The figures also suggest that print is refusing to die out, attributing digital's losses to the rise of "hybrid readers", literary fans who favour a mixture of print and digital.

There's also evidence that e-reader sales are on a downward spiral, as statistics from Forrester Research indicate that 12 million of the devices were sold last year, compared to 20 million in 2011.

High e-book prices are also thought to have contributed to the decline, with many digital titles now costing roughly the same as their print counterpart.

With e-book subscription services like Oyster and Scribd failing to catch on, it seems the act of physical page-turning may not be a dying art after all.