MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - E-book sales jumped 150% in July

Kali Yuga · 09-23-2010, 01:36 PM

These kinds of statistics, while most likely accurate, tend to be somewhat misleading.

For example, ebooks are still a very small slice of the pie. In 2009, ebook sales by 13 major publishers "jumped" by 175% overall.... but that actually means an increase from around $95 million in sales to $170 million, or from 1.2% of the market to 3.3%.

So, does a "175% increase" sound impressive when you're talking about $170m out of approximately $5 billion in sales...?

Plus, as ebooks continue to be adopted, you will see the "percentage of increase" go down even as the actual revenue numbers significantly increase. I.e. a 20% increase may not sound as big as a 175% jump, but if it's on $500 million in sales, that's an increase of $100 million.

So while I don't doubt the numbers per se, I do toss a little salt over my shoulder when I read stuff like this.

09-23-2010, 01:36 PM	#10
Kali Yuga Professional Contrarian Posts: 2,045 Karma: 3289631 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 4 No Touchie	These kinds of statistics, while most likely accurate, tend to be somewhat misleading. For example, ebooks are still a very small slice of the pie. In 2009, ebook sales by 13 major publishers "jumped" by 175% overall.... but that actually means an increase from around $95 million in sales to $170 million, or from 1.2% of the market to 3.3%. So, does a "175% increase" sound impressive when you're talking about $170m out of approximately $5 billion in sales...? Plus, as ebooks continue to be adopted, you will see the "percentage of increase" go down even as the actual revenue numbers significantly increase. I.e. a 20% increase may not sound as big as a 175% jump, but if it's on $500 million in sales, that's an increase of $100 million. So while I don't doubt the numbers per se, I do toss a little salt over my shoulder when I read stuff like this.