Whilst still forming a small proportion of the overall book market the sector is witnessing dramatic growth. In 2010 e-Book sales totalled $3.9 billion out of a total book market of $75.8 billion, or 5.2% of the total. Whilst overall this may be a small percentage it represents a 64.2% increase in e-Book sales compared to 2009. This trend looks set to continue and will partly be at the expense of print book sales.
It is noticeable that certain regions are embracing e-Books faster than others. In the US where devices which can display e-Books such as smartphones, tablet computers and e-readers are particularly popular the market expanded between 2009 and 2010 by 76.2%.
With regard to specific trends the digital format provided by e-Books enables publishers to produce greater numbers of products that can reach smaller audiences, and thus cater to more markets. In Education textbooks are starting to fall out of favour as students and teachers are able to move towards more individualised and interactive teaching, with increasing prominence being granted to e-Books and other digital products.
It has been widely recognised that the development of e-Books has provided opportunities for new and less well recognised authors to publish and market their products. In addition to helping the authors this has served to weaken the influence of the publishing houses over the industry. In 2011 Amazon increased this pressure by launching 'Kindle Direct Publishing'. This provides self-published authors with a relatively straightforward opportunity to publish and receive payment for their titles.
In addition to the launch of Kindle Direct Publishing, 2011 saw Amazon increase its efforts more widely in the e-Book market with the purchase of 450 children's titles and the establishment of a number of new publishing imprints. Subsequent to announcing during the second quarter of 2010 that its e-Book sales had surpassed those of hardcover titles, in May 2011 Amazon announced its e-Book sales had now started to exceed all of its printed book sales. The growth of Amazon in this market has seen other players enter partnerships with them to help expand into the area. After entering a partnership UK based independent book publisher Constable & Robinson saw the digital side of their business expand from 0 to 12% of turnover in 2011.
The speed of change is obliging market players to embrace digital technology and the next few years should witness significant change. This will provide many opportunities but existing market participants may find their market position challenged if they fail to adapt.
Steven Bolton is the founder and owner of ebookroadshow.com, a site that provides ebooks related to improving knowledge and skills. To review the site please visit:
http://ebookroadshow.com/
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