MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Survey for indie authors: What percent of your sales are ebooks vs. print books?

Smashwords · 05-05-2011, 07:02 PM

Although the Association of American Publishers has the some of the best ebook market data out there (shows ebook sales hit ~8.3% in 2010, up from ~3% 2009, 1% 2008, 1/2 of 1% 2007), the data is incomplete because it only surveys 12-15 big publishers (and not all big publishers), and doesn't survey the thousands of small presses out there as well as the indie authors.

I've seen some big indie authors claim they're selling 1,000 ebooks for every one print book they sell, and this seems plausible for some considering the price differential between a $.99-$5.99 indie ebook compared to a $15-$20 print book.

It also makes sense that print will be more difficult for indies to sell since indies don't get the benefit of brick and mortar book retail distribution like a traditionally published author.

So here's my survey, for indie ebooks authors only. What percent of your sales (let's look at net to you after the printer/distributor/retailer take their cut) are from ebooks?

05-05-2011, 07:02 PM	#1
Smashwords Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 4999999 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Los Gatos, CA Device: iPhone	Survey for indie authors: What percent of your sales are ebooks vs. print books? Although the Association of American Publishers has the some of the best ebook market data out there (shows ebook sales hit ~8.3% in 2010, up from ~3% 2009, 1% 2008, 1/2 of 1% 2007), the data is incomplete because it only surveys 12-15 big publishers (and not all big publishers), and doesn't survey the thousands of small presses out there as well as the indie authors. I've seen some big indie authors claim they're selling 1,000 ebooks for every one print book they sell, and this seems plausible for some considering the price differential between a $.99-$5.99 indie ebook compared to a $15-$20 print book. It also makes sense that print will be more difficult for indies to sell since indies don't get the benefit of brick and mortar book retail distribution like a traditionally published author. So here's my survey, for indie ebooks authors only. What percent of your sales (let's look at net to you after the printer/distributor/retailer take their cut) are from ebooks?