According to Tbe Bookseller website, Bowker is reporting another increase in online retail book sales. From the article:
Online retailers, including Amazon, accounted for 44% of all book spending in the US in 2012, according to Bowker. The figure is up from 39% in 2011, while bookstore chains now account for less than 20% of book spending.
E-books also grew, with an 11% share of spending in 2012, compared to 7% the year before, while the share is as high as 20% in areas such as mystery, romance and science fiction. However, despite the growth in e-book sales, there was still a growth in print book output, with traditional publishers producing 301,624 titles in 2012, up 3% on 2011’s output of 292,037 titles.
Jo Henry, director of Bowker Market Research, said: “The review reveals the larger industry impact of the growth of ebooks. This is more than simply a format change. E-books are driving powerful behavioral changes among book buyers.”
While Bowker may be accurate as far as books go, I find their reporting on eBooks to be somewhat questionable, since most retailers don’t require eBooks to have ISBNs, which means that most eBook authors aren’t spending money on the ridiculously overpriced ISBNs sold by Bowker. I’m just saying’…