LA Times reporting:
The total revenue generated by e-book sales
in the U.S. in 2012 was $3.04 billion, a 44.2% increase over the year
before. That gain was announced in the preliminary year-end report
released Wednesday by BookStats, a joint statistics project between the
Assn. of American Publishers and the Book Industry Study Group.
In 2012, e-book sales accounted for 20% of trade book
sales revenue. Overall, trade book sales rose 6.9%. Trade books are
those found in brick-and-mortar bookstores and online retail
booksellers.
And the increase in e-book sales did not
take a bite out of print books -- at least, not in the aggregate. Print
sales were $12 billion in 2012; they were $12 billion in 2011, too.
Hardcover sales rose 1.3% to
$5.06 billion. Trade paperbacks edged up 0.04% to $4.96 billion. Figures
are not yet available for mass market paperbacks, but their sales are
expected to fall. Most industry watchers believe that mass market
paperbacks stand the most to lose as the popularity of e-books continues
to rise.
Publishing often has a single runway hit that swells its annual numbers; in recent years Harry Potter,
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and "The Da Vinci Code" have greatly
improved sales. There's no question that in 2012, publishers have the
"50 Shades of Grey" books to thank for an improved bottom line.
As would be expected with a rise in e-book sales, online book sales rose 21.3% in 2012.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-ebook-sales-20130515,0,1144088.story
No comments:
Post a Comment