Last year the American print book industry sold a total of 620 million print book units in the retail and club channel alone. However total unit sales of print books in America fell by 9% in 2013, with a 2.5% decrease in retail sales, (Milliot, 2014). The American e-book market in 2012 was worth $3.5 billion, equating to just 13% of the total national print market, (IPA Annual Report, 2013).
Steve Bohme, research director of Nielson Books stated that e-books are a ‘growth market’ and will continue to thrive, (Flood, 2014).
After such an explosive few years of e-book sales, following the release of the Amazon Kindle back in 2007, (Bradbury, 2007), it seemed the e-book market was unstoppable. This is hardly surprising, with 50% of Americans now owning a tablet or an e-reader. Of 1,000 Americans surveyed in 2013, 28% had read an e-book that year, compared to 23% in the year previous. However, print books have remained on top, continuously, and only 4% of Americans claim to read e-books exclusively, (Prigg, 2014).
Although e-books may be continuing to thrive, the way consumers chose to read them is changing. Due to a rise in tablets with platforms for e-books, such as Apple iBooks, (available on Apple’s App Store), more and more people are turning away from e-reading devices and towards tablets which provide a greater range of capabilities. Numbers of e-readers being purchased globally have decreased. Barnes & Noble declared a 13% fall in revenue from their Nook range over the Christmas period, with sales totalling $311 million. IDC also noted a fall of 28% in shipments of e-readers, (Bensinger, 2013).
Most publishers rely on the success of print books, to fund the jobs required during the many stages of book production including binding and printing. A rise in self-published e-books would likely result in job losses and the closure of some publishing houses as well as bookshops, as more and more books are published digitally. The fall in sales of e-readers may seem beneficial for publishers, however, if sales of e-books continue to rise, being read on different devices, and continue to undercut print books, the impact remains a somewhat negative one.
Although, the rising sales of e-books have at least provided a cushion for publishers against a crash in print sales therefore aiding publishers in some ways.
However, it is important to remember, e-books have only really become popular since 2007, whereas print books have been around for centuries and have a long history of sales figures. Whilst the level of hype surrounding e-books is still relatively high, a longer scope of sales figures is required in order to gain a true account of sales a more accurate comparison of print and digital sales. Like all technological advances, ‘e-book fever’ will inevitably die down and so will sales of tablets and e-readers. One would hope that this will leave room for re-growth in the print sector, however, only time will tell.
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*Image taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-reader (25/11/14)
Bibliography:
Bensinger, Greg, (2013), The Wall Street Journal, (Online) The E-Reader Revolution: Over Just As it Has Begun? Available from:
<http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323874204578219834160573010 > [Accessed 08/10/14]
Bradbury, D., (2007) The Guardian, Can Amazon wean us off paper? Available from: <http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2007/nov/22/news.gadgets> [Accessed 08/10/14]
Flood, Alison, (2014), The Guardian, (Online), Self-Publishing Boom Lifts Sales by 79%, Available from:
<http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/13/self-publishing-boom-lifts-sales-18m-titles-300m > [Accessed 08/10/14]
Milliot, Jim, (2014), Sales of Print Units Slipped in 2013, Publishers Weekly, (Online), Available from <http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/60529-sales-of-print-units-slipped-in-2013.html> [Accessed 24/10/2014
Prigg, Mark, (2014), The Daily Mail, Ebooks hit record high as 50% of Americans say they own a tablet or reader (but the printed book is ALSO on the up), (Online) Available at:
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2540868/The-rise-e-book-dont-worry-printed-book-doing-well.html > [Accessed 08/10/2014]
International Publishers Association, 2013, International Publishers Association Annual Report, October 2012-2013, Accessed via: <http://www.internationalpublishers.org/images/stories/MembersOnly/AnnualREPORTS/Annual_Report_201213.pdf > [Accessed 24/10/2014].