51% of Adult fiction purchased in the USA is now in ebook form

And I'd guess that if they considered smaller publishers as well the % would be higher. I've wondered lately why ebook publishers don't all line up a POD publisher. I read both but much prefer paper.

KatyPerryfan19 said:

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/us-e-book-sales-down-6-2014

For New York published authors, are you seeing this trend in which half or more of your sales are now ebook?

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How about you? Have you had anything published both in paper and ebook? Which is doing better?

Or, if not published, which do you prefer to read yourself?

I don't know what authors see, but I know I have not purchased a novel that cannot go on Kindle for the last couple of years. The only exception is the how-to books. I far prefer my Kindle, and so does my husband. We have rooms choke full of books piling from floor to ceiling, and I'm making my husband throw away some so we have more breathing room. Kindle solves all issues. Not to mention it's so incredibly convenient - you hit a button online and in a couple of minutes, that book shows up in your kindle. Love it.

Interesting. In a few years we could see an entirely different landscape. But, does anyone know, if there's any good reason why ebook publishers wouldn't line up with a POD service? Is there something prohibitive in cost or fulfillment? Or is it just that the profit margins are so much smaller, and so if this trend is to continue, and I can't see any reason why it won't, they figure why bother?

KatyPerryfan19 said:

Forgot to mention subscription ebook that are read. It is growing in significant. Though not a "purchase" it is a method of book consumption.

Kindle Unlimited for example

1.547 million borrows (July 2014)
3.052 million borrows
3.29 million borrows (Sept 2014)
4.14 million borrows
4.64 million borrows (Nov 2014)
5.07 million borrows
6.15 million borrows (January 2015)
5.67 million borrows (28 days February 2015)
6.94 million borrows
7.21 million borrows (April 2015)

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Holy Smoke. That is over 400% growth in less than one year.

LJackson said:

Holy Smoke. That is over 400% growth in less than one year.

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I suspect a lot of that is due to the abundance of short stories available on KU now. I have a KU membership and I can blow through 40-50 short stories/series in a month without breaking a sweat. And that's because I'm lazy and don't read more. Romance, erom and erotica mainly. Have run up on some SF/F that I have enjoyed as well.

But romance, erom and erotica writers are killing it in KU.

Wow, I didn't realize it was that high. I will keep buying hardcopy books until the prices for ebooks is cheaper. Whenever I try to buy an ebook copy it's like the same price as a hardcopy.

KatyPerryfan19 said:

51% of Adult fiction purchased in the USA is now in ebook form

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/us-e-book-sales-down-6-2014

Adult fiction had the highest percentage of e-book sales, with 51% of sales purchased in the category bought in digital format. The biggest genres in that category for e-books in 2014 were general fiction, romance, suspense, mystery and fantasy, which were all more than 50% e-book.

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The figure is from 30 of the largest publishers

Information presented at BookExpo America and derived from PubTrack Digital, which collects e-book sales data from more than 30 of the largest publishers in the US

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For New York published authors, are you seeing this trend in which half or more of your sales are now ebook?

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KatyPerryfan19, the quotes you've presented are somewhat misleading. From the article you linked to:

E-book sales in the US declined by 6% in 2014 compared to the year before, statistics released by Nielsen show. Information presented at BookExpo America and derived from PubTrack Digital, which collects e-book sales data from more than 30 of the largest publishers in the US, showed that in 2014 just under 223 million e-books were sold in America, down from almost 240 million units in 2013. E-books made up 26% of all book sales in 2014, down from 28% in 2013.

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The article discusses how e-books' share of the market declined in 2014 compared to 2013; and that e-books represented 26% of the market overall. The 51% you have highlighted only relates to adult fiction and while that's a significant and important part of the market, it's not the whole market.

I thought this part of the article was significant:

Of the people who have bought books in the last six months, Nielsen said 49% had bought both physical and digital books, while just 9% bought e-books only.

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That suggests to me that if 9% of book-buyers buy digital editions only, and 49% buy both print and digital, then the remaining 42% must buy print only. So 58% of book-buyers have bought digital editions, while 91% of book-buyers have bought print editons. Which suggests to me that more people prefer print editions to digital.

Also, these figures came from Nielsen, which is notoriously inaccurate and which uses a lot of rounding off to produce the numbers it does. If these figures had come direct from publishers they'd be more reliable.

KatyPerryfan19 said:

If they considered self-publishing and Amazon Publishing, the % would be higher still. Self-publishing has about 33% market share right now in ebook sold (give or take). Amazon and B&N said self-publishing had 25% market share back in 2013. The hypothetical 8% gain in 2 years is doable in my opinion considering how self-publishing has took off.

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How have you calculated those percentages, and what were your sources?

I've seen "market share" based on sales, which is ok, but also based on "number of titles available", which raises many questions. If the figures are based only on Amazon's sales then they are presenting a skewed picture of sales overall, as many books sell from places which are not Amazon. If they're figures from the Author Earnings report, which you're so keen on, then as I've mentioned many times in the threads you've started here, those figures are seriously flawed. Both the way the AER collects its data and the way it presents it are unreliable and give us little more than a few fun anecdotes to share.

As for Amazon Publishing, they are now the 2nd largest publisher on Kindle. #1 is Random House Penguin without a doubt.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/...ticle/66593-amazon-publishing-marches-on.html

Belle said that Amazon Publishing is now the second-largest publisher on the Kindle platform in the U.S. With its strong Kindle presence, it is not surprising that Amazon Publishing sales skew more heavily toward digital than the larger trade houses do (e-books make up 30% of total revenue at a number of these houses).

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I'd be surprised if Amazon weren't one of the biggest publishers on the publishing platform it created and maintains. Please remember that there is far more to publishing than e-books, and far more to book sales than Amazon.

Amazon Publishing to publish 1200 books in 2015 and 2000 books in 2016. They could grow to be a Big Publisher status in a few years.

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Or they could churn too many books out at a rate of knots and realise they can't possibly promote such a high number effectively, find that each title's sales are far lower than they should be, and fail spectacularly. Many things are possible and indeed, if you look at our BR&BC room you'll find several publishers which have over-committed themselves with horrible results.

I hope this doesn't happen. I doubt it will in this case. But it's something to consider, I think.

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That's one of those deceptive and completely meaningless stats that come out about every six months.

KatyPerryfan19 said:

For New York published authors, are you seeing this trend in which half or more of your sales are now ebook?

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No. My physical book sales are almost three times higher than my ebook sales.

Perks said:

No. My physical book sales are almost three times higher than my ebook sales.

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I'm seeing far higher print sales than digital sales. A higher proportion than you even, Perks.

Yeah, and those are just the US numbers I have access to. I don't know what the percentages would be elsewhere. I don't believe that the 51% quoted is representative within the sales of different versions of the same book. That wouldn't seem to make sense.

Books which are available only on the Kindle, and not in print edition, are really going to skew those numbers. As Amazon is the home of the Kindle, and hosts so many self-published books, I'm not surprised that the figure is so high.

If the figures were presented for books which were available in both print and digital editions only, I bet the numbers would be significantly different.

And, since this discussion is focused more on publishing than on writing, I am moving it to General Publishing Discussions. Hang on, here we go>

Thank you, Kyla. This thread fits much better here.

There's a reason why my agent doesn't want my latest sub to go to a digital-only imprint. In science-fiction and fantasy, print still rules.