sales of consumer ebooks down 17%, sales of physical books up 8%

[darryl]

Amazon Pacman Slide

The Real Reason

These are from an Author Earnings (Jan 2017) which explains things well. All of the slides can be found at Author Earnings Slideshow

What Author Earnings believes happened is that print book sales rose because Amazon responded to Agency by discounting Print Book sales. This has now stopped.

The slides are good viewing. Amazon's ebook sales for 2016 were up 4%. I suspect that whilst many of us may well be buying less ebooks, the growth in the ebook market is more than sufficient to offset this effect. Another interesting point is that October 2016 finally saw an uptick in traditionally published ebooks. No reason for this is put forward, though I suspect that some traditionally published ebooks are being discounted and sold at more appealing prices. Sadly, though, my experience is that such publishers seem to still mostly want top price even for most of their back list. And according to AE, the big question now for publishers should not be digital v. print but online v. Brick and Mortar.

Anything relating to books in the Guardian and the New York Times should be viewed with suspicion. As Cinisajoy said above, this type of headline is clickbait, pure and simple. Or perhaps wishful thinking.

[fjtorres]

We could try reading tea leaves and goat entrails looking for ways to explain the article's claims.
Or, we could consider this:

http://the-digital-reader.com/2017/0...ntained-costs/

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

We could try reading tea leaves and goat entrails looking for ways to explain the article's claims.
Or, we could consider this:

http://the-digital-reader.com/2017/0...ntained-costs/

You forgot the eye of newt.

[Cinisajoy]

Great article from Nate as always.

[Dopedangel]

The people that have the best figures for ebooks and books sales are working in Amazon the largest seller of both. But even they probably don't have the most accurate figures.

[pata]

the article is largely trash but i thought this part was a little interesting:

Originally Posted by Shane R

How eBooks lost their shine: 'Kindles now look clunky and unhip'

I guess the new trendy device is the Kindle Oasis but well it's $289. There's been little improvement to the Kindle/Paperwhite in ages. Any other suggestions of hip/sexy looking ereaders?

[corroonb]

The Guardian has a bookshop. I don't believe they sell ebooks except for Kindle editions of their newspapers.

The publishers have been pushing this story for years and compliant organisations like the Guardian are only too happy to churn their press releases into dubious content.

[Josieb1]

Ebook sales are certainly not declining for me. In the genre I read only a fraction, possibly 20% or less books come out as paperback and some of those only once a series has completed, plus paperbacks cost 50/70% more than the ebook. What studies like that fail to understand, or even look at, is that the beauty of a digital book is it doesn't have to have a paper equivalent. In MM Romance it's not a choice between ebook or paperback, it's a choice between ebook, or no book.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Ebook sales are certainly not declining for me. In the genre I read only a fraction, possibly 20% or less books come out as paperback and some of those only once a series has completed, plus paperbacks cost 50/70% more than the ebook. What studies like that fail to understand, or even look at, is that the beauty of a digital book is it doesn't have to have a paper equivalent. In MM Romance it's not a choice between ebook or paperback, it's a choice between ebook, or no book.

I have heard there really isn't a paper market in that genre.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I have heard there really isn't a paper market in that genre.

They are just too expensive. Dreamspinner give the ebook free when you buy the paperback but they start at $13 which is double the ebook cost plus shipping on top, and Tax. There are a couple I would like but they are just not an option. Other publishers and authors also produce but again it's cost. This is where ebooks win every time.

[AnemicOak]

Many smaller pubs like Dreamspinner, Siren, LooseID, the late Samhain & Ellora's Cave, etc. are 100% print on demand so their paper books are generally a lot more expensive.

[DiapDealer]

The day one of the Big 5/6 stop selling ebook versions of their new releases altogether is the day I'll start worrying that the digital sky is falling.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Great article from Nate as always.

thanks!

[taosaur]

I've been reading library ebooks almost exclusively, and I go through a lot more audiobooks than ebooks. Granted, my audio picks tend to be shorter series installments where my eyeball reads tend to be doorstops.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Why might someone choose an eBook over a pBook? Portability, storage space, ability to change font, ability to adjust type size or otherwise adjust aspects of the book, ...

There are a lot of good reasons to buy an ebook, but when I weigh those reasons against buying a print book, the balance has changed. When the Sony 505 came out, I bought it and started buying ebooks instead of print. But then I began facing some of the limitations of ebooks, such as not being able to share the books with my wife and son.

And, yes, I am aware of DRM removal but that not only requires additional work and know-how, but, more importantly, it still requires multiple reading devices. The argument that some make that my wife and son could read the books on their computers or smartphones that they already own doesn't make ebooks more desirable. Reading on the computer makes the ebooks nonportable (and have you tried reading on your desktop while in bed?). As for the smartphone, my son tried and thought it was one of the worst experiences in the world. He could only display a small portion of a page at a time.

I do still occasionally buy an ebook, but today most of my book buying is hardcovers. My children and grandchildren come for a visit, go through my library, and grab a couple of books to take with them to read. They are able to not only see the dust jackets but to read the flap information and scan the book before choosing. Not so easy to do with a library of ebooks.

Point is that for some people the only option is the ebook. For them, there are no negatives only positives. For other readers, like me, ebooks are OK but far less inviting than print books. The balance scale tilts decidedly in favor of print. Consequently, I went from buying several ebooks every month to buying several hardcovers every month supplemented with the occasional ebook.