The demise of Borders has everything to do with the changing dynamics of book distribution, but is no reflection on our appetite for reading books. Based on a survey of 1,963 publishers by BookStat, estimates of book revenues were $27.9 billion in 2010 - slightly less than 2009, but a 5.6% increase over 2008.
Some Highlights
- 2.6 billion books sold in 2010, including 114 million e-books (but does not include sales of the growing sector of self-published works)
- Printed book sales were flat, but e-books rose from a 1% share of the market in 2008 to 6.4% in 2010.
- E-books represent 1.8% of children’s book sales which, as a category, declined 7.6% against a rising tide.
- Revenue from religious books increased a hefty 11.1% (have we turned from Ben Bernanke to a higher power to turn the economy around?)
Some considerations:
- Book reading is not dead. Far from it.
- The market for books is (arguably) elastic. Reduced e-book prices have not hindered sales, as was feared. The increase in sales of e-readers and tablets may well be increasing the demand for books - something there’ll be a better handle on when 2011 data is published.
- As in the recording industry, the battleground here among publishers and e-book e-tailers (Amazon, Apple, Google) is distribution. Where the ultimate spoils will go is still undetermined.
- E-books would not enjoy their pricing and uptake advantage were it not for on-demand distribution and archival via the cloud.
- With storage and network speeds a factor in the distribution of on-demand music and video, is it any wonder that, for the price charged, e-book distribution is a nice business to be in? Data storage equivalencies:
- 1 hi-res photograph = 1 large e-book novel
- 1 downloaded music album - 200 books (they each retail for about the same)
- 1 HD video rental at $5.00 = 25,000 books
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