BESTSELLING author Stephen King has announced he will not be releasing the digital rights to his latest book Joyland, meaning it can only be read on paper.

Joyland, set to be released this Friday in the UK, is set in a North Carolina amusement park in 1973 and has been described as a "whodunit" mystery.

"I have no plans for a digital version," Mr King told The Wall Street Journal.

"Maybe at some point, but in the meantime let people stir their sticks and go to an actual bookstore rather than a digital one."

E-books have stirred controversy in the publishing world since the release of the first Amazon Kindle.

More and more readers, especially in the US, are opting for e-readers over their print counterparts.

However, some technology aficionados including famous author and comedian Stephen Fry do not believe there is an issue.

"One technology doesn't replace another, it complements," he wrote on Twitter.

"Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators."