After all of last week’s media attention–and ethical questions–over Canongate’s publication of their Julian Assange book against the author’s wishes, driven by the publisher’s admitted “financial imperative,” the serial fees from the Independent may turn out to be among the title’s leading sources of income. After its first three days on-sale, BookScan UK reports the book has sold just 644 copies, making it the 50th bestselling hardcover and the 537th bestselling book overall for that week. At Amazon UK the printed book (ranked 681) and the Kindle edition (ranked 1,176) continue to slide. That reception may also influence international publishers […]
Statistics
AAP Trade Print Sales Down 36.5 Percent In June
The AAP released somewhat-delayed sales numbers for June. (Once again, this is data from the limited set of publishers who reported monthly to the AAP, not to be confused with the larger pool of annual data and estimates reflected in the Book Stats program the publishers organization runs along with the BISG, debuted in August). In what was a lousy month compared to the same period a year ago, a $50 million gain in ebooks over last year was far outpaced by the $153 million decline in print sales compared to June 2010, a 36.5 percent drop. eBook sales from […]
AAP eBook Numbers Rise, Making Up About 19 Percent of April Trade Sales
Monthly ebook sales as measured by the AAP from 14 reporting publishers rose slightly in April to $72.8 million, the second-biggest ebook sales month so far this year after February’s monster month of $90.3 million. Once again, that puts ebooks behind adult trade hardcover ($111.4 million) and trade paperbacks ($95.9 million) for the month, and but this time they comprised just under 19 percent of all trade sales for April. The sales numbers seem to indicate that Random House’s move to the agency model in March (when ebook sales were at $69 million) has been absorbed into the overall ebook […]
Tablets and Students’ eTextbook Resistance, and more eNews
A new study by the Pearson Foundation appears to show that students’ general resistance to etextbooks – documented in multiple reports from BISG – may be thawing somewhat. 55 percent of students still prefer print over digital textbooks, but among the 7 percent of students who own tablets devices such as iPads, 73 percent prefer digital textbooks. 70 percent of students surveyed say they are interested in owning a tablet (with 15 percent of those determined to buy one within the next six months) so no doubt the numbers will change by this time next year as more etextbook platforms […]
New Bowker/BISG eBook Survey Highlights Disparity Between eBook Consumption in Trade and Higher Ed
This morning BISG presented two studies prepared by Bowker’s PubTrack on ereading habits with markedly different objectives and conclusions. “The most important thing want want you to walk away from is to consider who your consumer is,” said Bowker’s Kelly Gallagher. “We’re looking at two completely different sides of the spectrum.” The newest iteration of its survey on Consumer Attitudes Toward eBook Reading pinpointed (once more) the core ebook buyer: a 44-year-old female with a median household income of $77K who reads and buys romance novels above all else to read on a dedicated device. 18 percent of respondents buy […]
As Expected, eBooks Slide to 17 Percent of Sales In March As Trade Rebounds, But E Is Now Amazon’s Top Format
Monthly ebook sales as measured by the AAP from 14 reporting publishers ebbed in March–which we were expecting–more or less on par with the second-biggest ebook sales month on record (January 2011), at $69 million. That puts ebooks behind adult trade hardcover and trade paperbacks for the month, and they comprised less than 17 percent of all trade sales for March. Why was a pullback from February’s $90.3 million expected? For starters, March is when Random House moved to the agency model, which means their ebook receipts should have declined, all things being equal. Just as important, recent quarterly earnings […]