Publishing and E-book statistics!

It was hard to conceive 20 years ago, that people would be reading books on a phone! However, by the first quarter of 2010 according to the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), e-books accounted for 5 percent total book sales in the U.S according to the Book Industry Study Group. In fact by summer, Amazon.com reported that e-book sales outpaced hardcover book sales: for every 100 hardcover books sold, Amazon sold 143 Kindle* books.

Of total consumer book sales, by late fall 2010 the Association of American Publishers (AAP) was reporting that e-book sales made up 9 percent, and the first quarter of 2011 marked the first time that e-book sales outnumbered sales of paperback books and hardcover books. The report was released May 2011, and notably showed e-book sales to have grown 145.7 percent compared to March 2010. To a large extent the increase in e-book sales could be attributed to seasonal sales of actual ‘e-book readers’ and post-holiday purchases of downloadable books for these devices.

The survey data was compiled from publishers as opposed to book retailers and showed a snapshot of what was happening in the publishing industry. The BISG also conducted a study called the Consumer Attitudes Toward Ebook Reading. Electronista reported results of the Consumer Attitudes survey in its May 23, 2011 post titled, “Digital now 11% of books, dominated by ‘power buyers‘” The post reported, “The percentage of paper book buyers that downloaded e-books has also more than doubled between October 2010 and January 2011 from 5 percent to almost 13 percent. Power buyers, defined as those who buy an e-book at least once a week, purchase 61 percent of all e-books but account for just 18 percent of the e-book buying population.”