It seems the data from inside the publishing world confirms what we’ve all suspected to be true – e-books are quickly capturing a major chunk of all book sales in the US.
A new report from the Association of American Publishers indicates that e-book sales between January and August of 2010 raked in a whopping $263 million, an increase over the $89.8 million generated during the same eight month period of 2009.
Last year, e-books only accounted for about 3% of book sales. This year, that figure has jumped above 9%.
“For the month of August,” the report states, “e-book sales continue to grow, with a 172.4 percent increase over August 2009 ($39.0 million).”
While electronic print is flourishing, difficult times persist for the physical print business, as confirmed by the data in this new report.
The Adult Hardcover category was down 24.4 percent in August with sales of $83.8 million, although sales for the year-to-date are up by 5.2 percent.
Adult Paperback sales decreased 18.3 percent for the month ($124.9 million).
Similarly, adult Mass Market sales decreased 21.9 percent for August with sales totaling $54.9 million. Sales were down by 14.3 percent year to date.
