Crains New York has the scoop on Random House’s explosive rise in ebook sales from a year ago -
- September 2009 sales (of Kindle ebooks) were $22.6 million – a huge increase from a year ago when they were just $2.9 million.
- The Lost Symbol was a huge part with 100,000 eBook Sales in its first week out (5% of total sales).
- In first half of 2009, Random House kindle ebook revenue grew 400% from a year ago.
The September figures were supposed to be kept secret but Crains’ secret agent ferreted out the details.
More Signs and Speculation about rise of eBook Sales
Random House aren’t the only sign that ebook sales are exploding -
- Pearson said that Penguin revenues rose 12% and one of the reasons was ’strong growth in eBook sales’.
- MediaPost covers In-Stat’s prediction that ebook sales will jump from $323 million in 2008 to $9 billion in 2013. They also predict 6.1 million eReader sales in 2010 and 29 million eReaders sold in 2013.
- Galesburg Register Mail has an article where Librarian Jane Easterly talks about ebooks. Apparently 5,400 public libraries across the US now offer e-books.
- Kindle, nook and Sony Reader are all expected to sell well this holiday season (most-wished-for lists have the kindle on them, nook is supposed to be selling out). That would mean even more people with eReaders.
- Amazon and Barnes & Noble are both releasing PC and Mac software to read ebooks soon (Kindle for PC is already out). That increases the customer base even more.
The last two factors only come into play starting end December – so sales will rise even faster then.
Kindle Book Sales are rising, Kindle and eReader sales are rising, the number of channels on which you can buy and read ebooks are rising.
eBooks are well and truly here.
What does the rise of eBooks mean for Publishing?
That’s a tough question. There will be lots of changes as the shift from physical books to ebooks intensifies.
Here are a few things it might mean -
- We’re either in the middle of, or at the beginning of a huge tipping point – either Holiday Season 2009 or the year of 2010. By end 2010 ebook sales ought to be 10-20% of total sales.
- Publishers need to start figuring out how to survive on $7-$8 per ebook sale.
- Publishers should have a contingency strategy in case their take on ebooks falls to $4-$5 per ebook.
- A huge opportunity for new companies to become successful publishers.
The hard numbers are not the only sign that we’re seeing an intensification – lots of people are wondering about the shift including more articles on the magic of physical books.
Filed under: publishing | Tagged: ebook sales trends
[...] Amazon Kindle Review has some interesting financial stats today. [...]
As with all things e-book related, we need to take these statistics with an accompanying grain of good old sodium chloride. In fact, the reported $22.6 million in Kindle-related e-book sales for RH are cumulative through the nine months ending 9.30.09, not September figures alone. This would still put total e-book sales at America’s largest trade publisher at somewhere between 1.5%-2.0% of domestic U.S. net revenues. The Lost Secret was a big contributor to that YTD increase and it is tough to see how that kind of mega-title volume translates into 2010 e-book increases of similar magnitude. For a more nuanced view of e-book and e-reader potential going forward, see my piece for PaidContent @ http://paidcontent.org/article/419-why-e-reader-adoption-will-be-slower-than-people-think/
[...] Kindle Sales explode for Random House – $2.9 to $22.6 million « Kindle Review – Kindle 2 Review…. [...]
[...] Kindle Sales explode for Random House – $2.9 to $22.6 millionLots of interesting bits and pieces in these numbers. [...]
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