Nearly a quarter of all books sold in US in 2012 were ebooks

[ctg]

Sales of standalone e-readers might be declining, but ebooks make up a growing portion of sales for US book publishers, according to the latest stats from the Association of American Publishers (AAP), a trade association.

The AAP's annual "StatShot" report for 2012, released on Thursday, shows ebook sales accounting for 22.55 per cent of all revenue for US trade publishers – meaning the typical commercial publishers whose books you find in shops.

That's up from 16.98 per cent in 2011 – a significant increase. And it's a massive step up from just six years earlier, when publishers reported that only 0.5 per cent of their revenue came from ebooks.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/12/ebook_sales_up_2012/

 

[Boneman]

Interesting. I wonder how much of the increase is an increase? Rather than paper publishing becoming e-publishing? The world and his wife can e-publish now, so I'd be interested to see year on year figures of the total books published.

And interestingly, just because they're published as an ebook, doesn't mean people read them, not sure his figures made that clear.

 

[ctg]

What you see is sales report as there's no way you can find out who will read what they have bought. Is there any way to find that out?

 

[Glitch]

And interestingly, just because they're published as an ebook, doesn't mean people read them, not sure his figures made that clear.

It's a sales report, so presumably people bought the ebooks.

 

[Boneman]

What you see is sales report as there's no way you can find out who will read what they have bought. Is there any way to find that out?

Don't think so... In essence some of it has to be 'new business' so to speak, because so many new books were kindled. And I thought, Glitch (must read it again) that it was a sales report of what had been published ie - "2,300,000 books published last year and 25% of them were ebooks" but not actually how many of each were sold. Or have I got that wrong?

 

[Glitch]

I admit to only reading ctg's quote. It says revenue so I read it as "x books sold last year and 25% of them were ebooks"

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

After reading ctg's quote, and then following the link to the article, I believe it is discussing actual books sold, not just published.

I fit right in with that number; I would say about 25% of the books I bought last year were ebooks, and the rest were good ol' paper copies.

 

[Boneman]

After reading ctg's quote, and then following the link to the article, I believe it is discussing actual books sold, not just published.

I fit right in with that number; I would say about 25% of the books I bought last year were ebooks, and the rest were good ol' paper copies.

Ah, I wasn't sure, when I read the article, thanks. But I'd be interested to know whether more books are now sold than the previous year, and is it more ebooks than paper? He does say it seems to have plateaud now, and it'll be interesting to see next year's figures. More and more paper publishers seem to be releasing ebooks shortly after, trying to tap into both markets.

 

[ctg]

Boneman, why are you asking that? Is it because you are on verge of making a decision to put your book in e-book market, or is it because your lack of faith in the new market?

 

[Glitch]

I fit right in with that number; I would say about 25% of the books I bought last year were ebooks, and the rest were good ol' paper copies.

So far I'm 100% paper and 0% ebook.

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

Ah, I wasn't sure, when I read the article, thanks. But I'd be interested to know whether more books are now sold than the previous year, and is it more ebooks than paper? He does say it seems to have plateaud now, and it'll be interesting to see next year's figures. More and more paper publishers seem to be releasing ebooks shortly after, trying to tap into both markets.

As to your question, I'm not sure. I did a quick google search to see if I could find anything, but no luck. I think there is little doubt now that ebooks will be sticking around, and publishers really should make their books available in that format. I do not believe (thankfully!) that they will replace paper books though.

So far I'm 100% paper and 0% ebook.

It took me a long time to get on the ereader bandwagon. I like it, but I find that I still prefer a physical book to read. But the kindle is another way for me to get access to books. Sometimes my library doesn't have a physical copy of a book, but they do have the ebook. Other times the ebook is cheaper than a physical book (although this doesn't happen all that often). Plus, you can get nearly all the classics for free.