Kindle books outselling print 2:1 for top 10 bestsellers

Ben Thornton · 10-25-2010, 05:05 PM

According to engadget.

This is an odd statistic:

Quote:

During the past 30 days, Amazon.com customers purchased more Kindle books than print books--hardcover and paperback combined--for the top 10, 25, 100, and 1,000 bestselling books on Amazon.com.

I wonder whether DTB sales are flatter - i.e. the top 1000 isn't the lion's share of book sales because people buy a very wide variety of books. That would explain why they don't just say "customers purchased more Kindle books than print books".

This seems like good news to me in several ways. (1) it suggests that people are buying a lot more ebooks, and (2) it suggests that people aren't just buying the most popular stuff, but a wide range.

BWhite · 10-25-2010, 07:40 PM

Actually it is according to Amazon. The link is further down in the Engadget article.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix....648&highlight=

Once you go to the source you realize that in terms of set analysis all we are talking about here is the set of customers who are already Amazon.com customers (like you quoted), and so I could not decide if that is really telling us anything.

Kali Yuga · 10-25-2010, 09:52 PM

Yaay, yet more squishy numbers from Amazon

Blue Tyson · 10-26-2010, 05:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BWhite

Actually it is according to Amazon. The link is further down in the Engadget article.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix....648&highlight=

Once you go to the source you realize that in terms of set analysis all we are talking about here is the set of customers who are already Amazon.com customers (like you quoted), and so I could not decide if that is really telling us anything.

I suppose that depends. I don't buy dead tree books from Amazon (because they cost too much) but will buy ebooks as they sell they most and actually sell to us.

I would think in terms of dead tree customers, Amazon will be losing Australians to the Book Depository, but gaining ebook buyers as one of the few places that still sell to us.

mopping five · 10-28-2010, 04:55 PM

How much does this have to do with new Kindle 3 owners? I know I went hog-wild buying new books when i got my nook.

SensualPoet · 10-28-2010, 05:08 PM

There may be some lift in Sep with new Kindle 3 owners. But there is likely also a dip in sales during Aug when Amazon wasn't selling any new Kindle 2s ... more than 30 days in the quarter without any "new" customers in the full honeymoon phase. To some degree, at least, these two events would cancel each other out.

What's happening is that the base of Amazon Kindle owners is growing month over month; very few Kindles are being retired yet. Plus, I've yet to hear of any backlash of disgruntled Kindle owners -- on the whole, they seem pretty enthused and likely to continue using and buying new content for their device.

markuskane · 10-28-2010, 09:41 PM

I bought Bill Bryson's new book as soon as I got my Kindle.

I loved it. I loved the price. I loved not having to go to the store a or wait for it to arrive.

There's nothing about it I don't like.

Steven Lake · 10-29-2010, 08:29 AM

Argh. If these numbers are even halfway true, I may have to bite the bullet, shelve my hatred of Amazon for a bit, and allow my book to be put into Kindle format. It goes totally against my grain, but hey, if that's where my readers are going, I guess I'll have to go there too. Well, at least until I can convince them to go to better sources for their ebooks.

SensualPoet · 10-29-2010, 09:28 PM

It's worth a try, Steven. And see where you get the greatest sales six months from now. If you do, please let us know your experience.

tbrookside · 10-31-2010, 05:23 PM

I don't know if the DTB sales curve is necessarily flatter - ebooks in the long run are probably a much better long tail venue than print.

But Amazon does offer 4 to 5 as many print books as Kindle books. There are still only 700,000 books in the Kindle Store, and the print database runs into the millions. That makes it a little more difficult to compare the sales performance of the different media without picking a set of books to look at side to side.

Jeri Patrick · 10-31-2010, 10:01 PM

The Kindle locks you into buying books from Amazon. Anyone's guess if the stats quoted are accurate or just a marketing ploy.

We never buy paper books but haunt our local library. We bought a Sony PRS-650 because it uses ePUB format and our library has these available for lending.

TallMomof2 · 11-01-2010, 09:28 AM

You can load any book without DRM onto the Kindle once it's converted to mobi, prc, or AZW (which are basically the same format). There are many places to acquire Kindle content including right here at Mobileread.

If you're willing to strip DRM then you can buy anywhere!

Steven Lake · 11-01-2010, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeri Patrick

The Kindle locks you into buying books from Amazon. Anyone's guess if the stats quoted are accurate or just a marketing ploy.

Yeah, Amazon is out to create a new culture of vendor lock-in to ensure their sales. They know they won't be on top forever, but if they can force end users to remain with them, they can stay up there longer than they otherwise would have. I myself hate it, and think that it's a dirty, evil, anti-customer tactic. If you have to force people to stay with you, then you're doing something wrong, or else you're just flat out lazy and don't even want to try and keep people in your camp. You just force them to stay at gunpoint. Now on the other side of things, if you can make a product and/or service that's so awesome that they can't stay away from you, then you're doing something right. Most companies though chose the lazy way out, and I hate that, because they're more or less pooping all over their customers and insulting them at the same time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

You can load any book without DRM onto the Kindle once it's converted to mobi, prc, or AZW (which are basically the same format). There are many places to acquire Kindle content including right here at Mobileread.

If you're willing to strip DRM then you can buy anywhere!

Exactly! Too bad there's not enough people willing to do that.

NVash · 11-02-2010, 04:09 PM

That the only reason you wouldnt bother with Amazon so far Steven? I ask because I know an author who seems to be dragging their feet on getting their book to the Kindle and Im wondering what reasons there may be to warrant this. Surely an author would want their stuff on the Kindle to get it to more audiences faster and maybe even cheaper. At least, thats what I assume.

Steven Lake · 11-03-2010, 09:12 AM

Yeah, a lot of the reasons for my delays have been moral. In fact, they're so downright greedy and underhanded that I'm looking into doing two versions of my book: One for normal sale, and one for Amazon, the latter of which will be priced half again higher in order to break even on sales through Amazon. They're so blasted crooked that you could use them as a corkscrew. I'm really, really looking forward to someone stepping up and smacking them down hard one of these days.

10-25-2010, 07:40 PM	#2
BWhite Connoisseur Posts: 97 Karma: 526 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Sony PSP, Palm TX	Actually it is according to Amazon. The link is further down in the Engadget article. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix....648&highlight= Once you go to the source you realize that in terms of set analysis all we are talking about here is the set of customers who are already Amazon.com customers (like you quoted), and so I could not decide if that is really telling us anything. Last edited by BWhite; 10-25-2010 at 07:58 PM.

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10-25-2010, 09:52 PM	#3
Kali Yuga Professional Contrarian Posts: 2,045 Karma: 3289631 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 4 No Touchie	Yaay, yet more squishy numbers from Amazon

10-28-2010, 04:55 PM	#5
mopping five Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 140 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: nook	How much does this have to do with new Kindle 3 owners? I know I went hog-wild buying new books when i got my nook.

10-28-2010, 05:08 PM	#6
SensualPoet Wizard Posts: 2,302 Karma: 2607151 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Aura HD, Kindle Paperwhite, Asus ZenPad 3, Kobo Glo	There may be some lift in Sep with new Kindle 3 owners. But there is likely also a dip in sales during Aug when Amazon wasn't selling any new Kindle 2s ... more than 30 days in the quarter without any "new" customers in the full honeymoon phase. To some degree, at least, these two events would cancel each other out. What's happening is that the base of Amazon Kindle owners is growing month over month; very few Kindles are being retired yet. Plus, I've yet to hear of any backlash of disgruntled Kindle owners -- on the whole, they seem pretty enthused and likely to continue using and buying new content for their device.

10-28-2010, 09:41 PM	#7
markuskane Markus Kane Posts: 49 Karma: 50000 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Kindle	I bought Bill Bryson's new book as soon as I got my Kindle. I loved it. I loved the price. I loved not having to go to the store a or wait for it to arrive. There's nothing about it I don't like.

10-29-2010, 08:29 AM	#8
Steven Lake Sci-Fi Author Posts: 1,158 Karma: 14743509 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Michigan Device: PC (Calibre)	Argh. If these numbers are even halfway true, I may have to bite the bullet, shelve my hatred of Amazon for a bit, and allow my book to be put into Kindle format. It goes totally against my grain, but hey, if that's where my readers are going, I guess I'll have to go there too. Well, at least until I can convince them to go to better sources for their ebooks.

10-29-2010, 09:28 PM	#9
SensualPoet Wizard Posts: 2,302 Karma: 2607151 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Aura HD, Kindle Paperwhite, Asus ZenPad 3, Kobo Glo	It's worth a try, Steven. And see where you get the greatest sales six months from now. If you do, please let us know your experience.

10-31-2010, 05:23 PM	#10
tbrookside Connoisseur Posts: 70 Karma: 96 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Bennington, VT Device: Kindle	I don't know if the DTB sales curve is necessarily flatter - ebooks in the long run are probably a much better long tail venue than print. But Amazon does offer 4 to 5 as many print books as Kindle books. There are still only 700,000 books in the Kindle Store, and the print database runs into the millions. That makes it a little more difficult to compare the sales performance of the different media without picking a set of books to look at side to side.

10-31-2010, 10:01 PM	#11
Jeri Patrick I like to watch Posts: 12 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Gold Coast, Australia Device: PRS-650	The Kindle locks you into buying books from Amazon. Anyone's guess if the stats quoted are accurate or just a marketing ploy. We never buy paper books but haunt our local library. We bought a Sony PRS-650 because it uses ePUB format and our library has these available for lending.

11-01-2010, 09:28 AM	#12
TallMomof2 Kindlephilia Posts: 2,017 Karma: 1139255 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Snowpacolypse 2010 Device: Too many to count	You can load any book without DRM onto the Kindle once it's converted to mobi, prc, or AZW (which are basically the same format). There are many places to acquire Kindle content including right here at Mobileread. If you're willing to strip DRM then you can buy anywhere!

11-02-2010, 04:09 PM	#14
NVash Wandering Vagabond Posts: 282 Karma: 350000 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: iPod Touch	That the only reason you wouldnt bother with Amazon so far Steven? I ask because I know an author who seems to be dragging their feet on getting their book to the Kindle and Im wondering what reasons there may be to warrant this. Surely an author would want their stuff on the Kindle to get it to more audiences faster and maybe even cheaper. At least, thats what I assume.

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11-03-2010, 09:12 AM	#15
Steven Lake Sci-Fi Author Posts: 1,158 Karma: 14743509 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Michigan Device: PC (Calibre)	Yeah, a lot of the reasons for my delays have been moral. In fact, they're so downright greedy and underhanded that I'm looking into doing two versions of my book: One for normal sale, and one for Amazon, the latter of which will be priced half again higher in order to break even on sales through Amazon. They're so blasted crooked that you could use them as a corkscrew. I'm really, really looking forward to someone stepping up and smacking them down hard one of these days.