• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Login
  • Register
Publishers Lunch logo Publishers Lunch logo
  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help
Login Sign Up
  • Personnel
  • Earnings
  • New Releases
  • Book Bans
  • The Trial
  • Unions
  • Compensation
  • Archives
Publishers Lunch logo
  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help
  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help

June 4, 2012By Michael Cader

Print Sales Rise 13.4 Percent At Reporting Indie Stores; ABA Gains Members for Third Year

June 4, 2012By Michael Cader

As Book Expo America opens (for educational programming today, and floor exhibitions tomorrow), the American Booksellers Association reports to the AP that their membership rose again–adding 55 members, now totaling 1,567, up 3.6 percent from last year. That is the third consecutive gain for the organization; this time a year ago, the ABA reported adding 102 members, following their merger with  the Association of Booksellers for Children. (In 2010 they added 9 members–gains, while always good, do not necessarily reflect a change in the entire store landscape, since not all independent bookstores are members of the national organization.) The current member total is close to where ABA ranks stood in 2007 (at 1,580).

More positively, the ABA also cited Nielsen BookScan data that indicates number of printed books sold by approximately 500 reporting indie stores rose by 13.4 percent (in units) this year, through mid-May.

As co-owner of the Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC Tom Jackson notes, “It’s down compared to five years ago, but it went down when the whole economy fell. It’s since come back up and stayed up. Given what’s been happening with digital books, the competition from Amazon and so forth, that seems pretty good.”

Bowker’s complete report on new books published during 2011 is embargoed until Tuesday, but at Sunday’s self-publishing event at BEA Kelly Gallagher said they recorded ISBNs issued for 211,269 self-published titles in 2011, up from 133,036 titles in 2010. (Bear in mind that not all self-published books carry ISBNs, now including ebooks that are exclusively published through sites that don’t use an ISBN for ebooks, such as Amazon.)

eBooks comprised 41 percent of the self-published books talled by Bowker, but Gallagher said they comprised only 11 percent of overall sales, reflecting the much lower average price of ebooks versus print-on-demand titles. Create Space was the biggest self-publisher by volume (by far), with 57,602 titles.

Filed Under: Bookstores, Free, Statistics

sidebar

Primary Free Sidebar

Login

Forgot Password Quick Pass User Login
Get Full Access
The Publishing Industry’s Essential Daily Read

Each Publishers Lunch Deluxe subscription includes full access to our searchable multi-year archive of industry news, a nightly email reporting 10 to 50 deal transactions, and our database of industry contacts, scripts, and posting privileges.

Learn More

RSS Automat

  • S&S Signs Haberman and Swan Book About "Donald Trump's Final Act in Public Life" November 27, 2023 Axios
  • Barnes & Noble is ending support for older Nook e-readers November 17, 2023 The Verge
  • Publishing Coalition Files Brief with Appeals Court Asking to Uphold Ruling Blocking Texas's "Reader" Book Banning Law November 14, 2023 Filing
  • Entangled Acknowledges "Printing Errors" On Yarros's Just-Released IRON FLAME: "We are committed to making this right" with Exchanges November 11, 2023 Variety
  • Bridgewater Says THE FUND "Is ridiculous and couldn't be any further from the truth" November 8, 2023 Press Release
  • Librarians Fired for Refusing Book Bans Try Filing Discrimination Claims with the EEOC November 8, 2023 AP
  • What 35 Years of Data Can Tell Us About Who Will Win the National Book Award November 7, 2023 Public Books
  • "Silent Book Clubs" Gain In Popularity November 7, 2023 WSJ
  • WH Smith Launches Program to Buyback Used Books for Credit (With A Partner That Will Then Resell the Used Books) November 2, 2023 Company site
  • Abu Dhabi's Mubadala (Which Bid on Simon & Schuster) May Invest Further In Silver Lake's Bid to Take Endeavor Private November 2, 2023 Bloomberg
Publishers Marketplace logo

Contact Us

News

  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Report News
  • Discuss
  • Classifieds
  • Rights Offerings

Deals

  • Report A Deal

Books

  • Buzz Books

Jobs

  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy Terms of Use