E-book sales exceeed sales of "real" books for the first time

[Deepsepia]

admittedly, it was just for one month, when lots of Christmas e-book gift cards were being redeemed, but its a sign of things to come

E-Books Rank as #1 Format among All Trade Categories for the Month

April 14, 2011; New York, NY-- Powerful continuing growth of books on digital platforms--both e-Books and Downloaded Audiobooks--are highlights of the February 2011 sales report of the Association of American Publishers, which is being released today.

The report, produced by the trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry, tracks monthly and year-to-date publishers’ net sales revenue in all categories of commercial, education, professional and scholarly books and journals.

According to the February results, once again e-Books have enjoyed triple-digit percentage growth, 202.3%, vs February 2010. Downloaded Audiobooks, which have also seen consistent monthly gains, increased 36.7% vs last February.

For February 2011, e-Books ranked as the #1 format among all categories of Trade publishing (Adult Hardcover, Adult Paperback, Adult Mass Market, Children’s/Young Adult Hardcover, Children’s/Young Adult Paperback).

This one-month surge is primarily attributed to a high level of strong post-holiday e-Book buying, or “loading,” by consumers who received e-Reader devices as gifts. Experts note that the expanded selection of e-Readers introduced for the holidays and the broader availability of titles are factors.

Additionally, Trade publishing houses cite e-Books as generating fresh consumer interest in--and new revenue streams for--“backlist” titles, books that have been in print for at least a year. Many publishers report that e-Book readers who enjoy a newly-released book will frequently buy an author’s full backlist.

For the year to date (January/February 2011 vs January/February 2010), which encompasses this heavy post-holiday buying period, e-Books grew 169.4% to $164.1M while the combined categories of print books fell 24.8% to $441.7M.*

http://www.publishers.org/press/30/

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Not really surprising...have you seen the price of hard copy books lately? :wha:

[Deepsepia]

Not really surprising...have you seen the price of hard copy books lately? :wha:

Interesting, isn't it? The market shrinks, and the price goes up.

The e-book sales number aren't broken down by platform (at a guess, it's Kindle out in front, iTunes/iPad in second, with Barnes and Noble in third place), but all in all, this trend tells you why "tablets aren't just a fad".

[Godfather]

Not really surprising...have you seen the price of hard copy books lately? :wha:

Really great point.

I like to think I'll always enjoy the nostalgia of a real book... but the price of reading a book in a day or two is outrageous.



I have a lot of friends and family arguing that books will never go out of style. But I maintain that real book stores will become a novelty, kind of like record stores today (maybe not to the same extent). This is really interesting data.

[Deepsepia]

I have a lot of friends and family arguing that books will never go out of style. But I maintain that real book stores will become a novelty, kind of like record stores today (maybe not to the same extent). This is really interesting data.

Yes, print will be something like vinyl is today, collectible, and a specialty item.

The big question are textbooks, which are outrageously priced, basically a kind of toll on students. The publishers are terrified of digital, because if you have a $250 textbook in digital format, that's going to be pirated in a heartbeat. They're hanging on to print for those items because they're somewhat harder to pirate that way.

[Godfather]

That God I'm not a student anymore... paying for textbooks was not fun. Especially when they tell you at the end of the term they're changing for the next year so they won't give you a penny for your old books :wha:



I had a prof who assigned his own textbook for a course. He made it clear that while it was a 200$ book, he got jack-all. The guy even offered to refund 100% of the commission - all of about 2$ a book he got from the sale - to any student who came to his office hours :rofl:

[RBP]

The big question are textbooks, which are outrageously priced, basically a kind of toll on students. The publishers are terrified of digital, because if you have a $250 textbook in digital format, that's going to be pirated in a heartbeat. They're hanging on to print for those items because they're somewhat harder to pirate that way.


I have the option to buy textbooks in digital format right now - they are about 1/2 the price of the printed ones.

For me personally, I'll still buy textbooks in printed form.

[Godfather]

I have the option to buy textbooks in digital format right now - they are about 1/2 the price of the printed ones.

For me personally, I'll still buy textbooks in printed form.

Would the cost of buying for half the price and printing yourself end up being worth your time or no? :-k

[RBP]

Would the cost of buying for half the price and printing yourself end up being worth your time or no? :-k

:-k

I kind of doubt it, between cost of ink, formatting, and lack of binding, but that's an interesting thought.

[Godfather]

:-k

I kind of doubt it, between cost of ink, formatting, and lack of binding, but that's an interesting thought.

Ya I kind of doubt it too but I never looked into it. Most of my history and poli sci classes were smaller textbooks (so you have to buy 4 - 60$ books instead of one 250$ one like sciences). Never had the opportunity to buy books online unfortunately, cus I don't mind reading on computers at all.


However, once in a while I did use a program called Google Book Downloader to borrow books off Google Books that were there in full but only allowed you to view a few pages before your 'preview' ends. :lol:

[Pony]

I have a decent collection of ebooks, still prefer the real thing though. I hit the used bookstores a few times a year and get a bunch cheap.