Ebook growth up 252 percent

[Scott Nicholson]

PW reports on ebook growth--but the growth is even more staggering than this because this is simply measuring 13 publishers, not all the small presses and indie authors.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...p-reports.html

Do you think it will continue? Where's the leveling off point? When does the print industry collapse?

Scott Nicholson
http://hauntedcomputer.blogspot.com

[cfrizz]

It will continue once everyone gets their acts together & get those blasted agy contracts signed.

But there also has to be more competition with the need for more stores selling ebooks that are not tied to the bookstores own ereaders.

Or a standard format that all stores sell. Then it just comes down to whomever has the best price.

[cheerio6414]

With the massive push of hundreds of ereaders available, i would expect it to be much higher next year

[sabredog]

Certainly the introduction of the cheap and cheerful Kobo reader at Borders here in Australia has proven at first looks most successful.

If anything the availability of well priced dedicated ereader devices will most certainly increase sales of ebooks here.

So lets see some action for publishers and more ereader manufacturers like Sony selling their products here now.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by Scott Nicholson

Do you think it will continue?

No and yes.

No, in that statistics like this are misleading. Ebook sales are still very small -- less than 5% of the total US book sales. Going from $35 million to $90 million isn't quite that impressive, when you consider that the US book industry in total is somewhere around $24 billion in 2009.

Or, consider that if sales increased $50 million (from $40 million to $90 million) this year, and they increase by $90 million next year, that would be a large revenue increase but "only" a 100% increase in sales.

I.e. as the sales figures get larger, you won't see such large percentage increases.

However, "yes" in that ebooks are likely to continue to grow, and grab more market share. It's not guaranteed but it does seem likely.

Originally Posted by Scott Nicholson

Where's the leveling off point? When does the print industry collapse?

I doubt print will ever completely disappear. What's more likely is that retail bookstores will find it hard to continue as sales increasingly shift to ebooks, online bookstores, print on demand and big box stores like Walmart. That's going to take many years though.

[Dellaster]

It's hard to get a clear picture on the magnitude and speed of ebook growth. Perhaps matching the OP's Publisher's Weekly article with one from PW in February regarding the same 13 publishers will shed light, as it is oranges vs oranges:

Ebook Growth in all of 2009: 176%
Ebook Growth in just the first quarter of 2010: 252%

Whatever the total percent of book sales they may be, it sure looks to me that ebook sales are accelerating dramatically. This is before the iPad began bringing ebooks into the awareness of the general public.

The next year or two should be interesting.

[Ervserver]

wow thanks iPad !

[J. Strnad]

Well, it took about five years for iTunes and the iPod to kill Tower Records. These things can happen pretty damn quick. I don't think that the publishing industry as a whole understands that.