Sales of electronic books have fallen by the most on record in a stark reversal following several years of spectacular growth.
The Association of American Publishers released data showing e-book sales dropped 10pc in the first five months of this year, compared with the same period in 2014.
The latest figures showed US e-book sales – excluding educational titles – of $610m (£400m).
The group said it was the largest drop since the beginning of the e-book market. The e-book market has been growing strongly, with the exception of a small drop in 2013.
No, what the figures show is a fall in the sale of e-books by members of the American Association of Publishers.
Which, given that AAP members raised prices o e-books but not on physical ones, isn’t all that much of a surprise, they are substitutes after all.
This number does not include e-books sold by non-AAP members: all those self-publishers over on Amazon (myself included) which rose substantially.
Not sure of what the final effect is of the both fall and rise in different parts of the market. But it ain’t that headline which every newspaper in the globe seems to be reporting.
Was it the same American Association of Publishers which just had the large spat with Amazon, trying to stop it reducing the prices of their e-books?
I guess Amazon knows more about selling stuff than the publishers.
It all sounds like propaganda aimed at authors: get them thinking dead treebooks are where the sales are, so they don’t self-publish.
The book market is definitely going e-books. My father might still like dead trees and having shelves of books, but my kids and all their friends have Kindles. My wife likes the fact she can load up the library with £1 daily deals and carry it in a handbag.
I personally stop buying physical books unless there is a compelling reason for it (like the re-issued Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure which combines story arc into beautiful bound hard back volumes). Hell, I may even finish Ash: The Secret History due to the fact that I don’t have to lug around the 1000+ pages.
Since the restrictions lifted falling the apple price fixing and suddenly there were more deals I have bought more ebooks. There is definitely a value issue with ebooks, there is no way I’m paying $30 for an ebook ever.
BigFire,
I still prefer things like large technical books, as you can more easily flick between chapters and Jancis Robinson’s various wine porn books.
Indeed it is fascinating to compare and contrast those reports with this http://authorearnings.com/report/september-2015-author-earnings-report/
Recently, I just bought 7 volumes of “One Punch Man” manga. And much to my surprise, it reads just fine on my tablet and especially on my browser’s reader. I may have to give up on physical comics as well…