“Of course they are!”
Perhaps these statistics aren’t all that surprising, but according to the New York Times, eBooks were good for the book business in 2012. A recent BookStats survey of roughly 1,500 publishers (including the big six) shows that:
* eBook sales in fiction were up 42% from the year before — thanks in part to the growing popularity of the romance genre following the “Fifty Shades of Grey” phenomenon.
* eBook sales accounted for $1.8 billion.
* eBook sales in nonfiction grew 22% to $484.2 million.
* Children’s and YA eBook sales increased 117 percent ( to $469.2 million).
* eBooks accounted for 20% of publisher’s revenues in 2012, up from 15% the year before.
* Sales of print formats were flat or on the decline; eBooks and audiobooks were on the rise.
* Revenue from brick-and-mortar bookstores dropped 7%; online sales (through retailers like Amazon) rose 21%.
According to the New York Times article, publishers attributed a 22% bump in revenue from downloadable audiobooks to the growing use of mobile devices.
Have you been swept up in the eBook revolution? Do you have a tablet or eReader? How often do you buy eBooks? How often do you buy print books? Let us know in the comments below.
