The other day we learned that you can take something that isn’t news, put it on the front page of the printed NYT, and it becomes very important. While people who work in book publishing likely shrugged at the combination of well-established trends and selective interpretation — ebook sales for traditional publishers have been roughly flat for years — then you started hearing from relatives and friends who thought there was something here worthy of, say, congratulations. So “Print books not dead” now officially joins the pantheon of comic tropes, somewhere between the Monty Python sketch and Generalissimo Francisco Franco. But let’s […]
Statistics
Partnerships: Nielsen Collaborates With China’s Openbook; and More
Nielsen has signed a collaboration agreement with Openbook, the largest Chinese book retail tracking service provider, in which both companies will share and provide information to one another in both the US and Chinese markets. Openbook will publish weekly overall and genre-specific US and UK book sales charts, as well as US and UK rights contact information, while Nielsen will Nielsen introduce Openbook’s research services, including the English translations of the 2014 China Market report, to Nielsen clients around the world. Nielsen Book president Jonathan Nowell said in the announcement: “I am delighted to be working with Mrs Jiang and […]
2014 In Print Sales: Units Rose on Final Holiday Push, But Bestseller Dollars Fell Significantly
A late holiday shopping push lifted seasonal book sales, putting print book sales as measured by Nielsen Bookscan for the last four weeks of the year at approximately 96 million units, up 6 million books or 6.7 percent compared to the same period in 2013. (Over half of the gain came in the final week of shopping.) For the full year, Nielsen Bookscan recorded sales of 635 million units across the outlets that they cover (comprising an estimated 80 percent of the print book business), up a modest 15 million units or 2.4 percent from the previous year, thanks in […]
“Traditional Titles” Dip Slightly in 2013, Bowker Reports
Bowker released its estimates of print book production for 2013, noting that what they call “traditional” output–which includes self-publishers like CreateSpace, but excludes public domain POD factories like BiblioBazaar — dipped 2 percent from 309,957 titles in 2012 to a projected 304,912 titles in 2013. Despite the decline as compared to the previous year (and general growth in the several years before then) Bowker said the result “points to a relatively stable market for print works despite competition from e-books.” The public domain business (or what Bowker refers to as “nontraditional” titles) declined far more significantly, to 1,108,183 titles, a […]
AAP and BISG to Drop Joint BookStats Project
The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) “voted not to renew” its agreement with the AAP to partner on the annual BookStats project going forward. The two will be releasing the 2013 statistics later this week, and today’s announcement does not affect that already collected data. The 2013 data will be the fourth and final installment. The AAP says in a statement that “as the agreement’s expiration approached, our organizations have had a series of conversations to discuss options and their decision does not come as a surprise.” BISG executive director Len Vlahos said in a separate statement, “As happens with all […]
Nielsen’s Top 10 Authors Since 2001
Based on “real Nielsen data” (e.g. print sales), the company has published a list of the top-selling authors since 2001 (along with their biggest-selling title): 1. James Patterson (1st to Die) 2. J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) 3. Nora Roberts (Red Lily) 4. Dr Seuss (Oh, the Places You’ll Go!) 5. John Grisham (A Painted House) 6. Stephenie Meyer (Twilight) 7. Dan Brown (The DaVinci Code) 8. Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook) 9. Janet Evanovich (One for the Money) 10. Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) 11. Stephen King (Dreamcatcher) Little, Brown says Patterson has had […]