It is often the case that new media formats are greeted with suspicion amid fears that the changes they herald will undermine important creative aspects of society. Often these fears are misplaced and it is the distribution channels of the old format that are under threat rather than the media itself, and after a period of decline the industry returns to growth and often hits a new peak. Earlier this week I saw a chart which showed how the music industry evolved according to this pattern as the physical format shifted from vinyl through cassettes to CDs, and today I’ve seen data showing that ebooks are now driving growth at the overall market level in the book industry.
Last Tuesday the Association of American Publishers released a study which found that total US industry sales grew 3.1% to $27.9bn from 2009-2010 and that ebooks were 5.7% of the total at $1.6bn. The press release gave ebook sales for the trade portion of the market and assuming a similar growth rate in consumer ebook sales then it is accurate to say that the overall industry growth is down entirely to ebooks, and that physical book sales declined.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Ebooks driving growth and enabling innovation in the book industry « « The Equity KickerThe Equity Kicker
Author: Nic Brisbourne
