[fjtorres]

Both reports have different audiences: AE is for authors, Nielsen for publishers.

Publishers are interested in how much money they squeeze from readers, which is why they focus on reader-spend, dollar value of sales.

Authors are interested in how much money they get for their efforts and they don't care where it comes from, readers or somebody paying for the readers.

The one common denominator to both reports is unit sales, which happens to be the one thing relevant to readers. Look at both reports and they both detail how often readers *choose* to acquire Indie ebooks, how often they choose small tradpub, and how often they choose BPH.

And those choices are molding the evolution of the ebook market: what titles come to market, how they come to market, and who sells them. That last one is most relevant to us readers given the ongoing Nook implosion, Kobo's failure to gain traction, and the ongoing closures of small generic bookstores.

So yes, both reports aim at different audiences but since nobody is doing reports for readers we have to find our facts where we find them or trust the propaganda the establishment tries to pass as facts.

Everybody gets to believe whichever side they choose to believe.

Everybody looks after their interests. Me, I have a lot invested in ebooks, both hardwAre and contents so my interests lie with whoever is trying to build a big, robust ebook industry. Which means my interests are served by more ebooks coming to market through as many channels as possible, as cheaply as possible. Whatever side is helping that come to pass has my sympathy and support.

(Cause, yes, cheaper ebooks means I get to read more of them.)

That side is not the BPHs so I choose not to deal with them or believe their propaganda. And I take heart knowing I'm not alone and that the hegemony of the Glass tower multinationals is withering away.