August 10, 2013

Five New Facts about the Book Industry

1.  “Online book retail, including ebooks, accounted for 44% of all spending by consumers on books in the U.S.”
2.  “Women increased their lead over men in book buying, accounting for 58 percent of overall book spending in 2012, up from 55 percent in 2011. However, men are bigger hardcover buyers – the only area where their buying outpaces women’s.”
3. “The slowly improving economy has improved the climate for purchasing books. By the close of 2012, 53 percent of consumers said the economy was having no effect on their book buying habits, up from 51 percent at the end of 2011.”
4. “Ebooks continue their steady upward trend, with an 11 percent share of spending in 2012, compared to seven percent in 2011.”
5. “The growth of ebooks varies widely among the different publishing categories with their deepest penetration focused in fiction, particularly in the mystery/detective, romance, and science fiction categories, where ebooks accounted for more than 20 percent of 2012 spending.”

Tara Maya