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Book Sales Up 1% in Canada in 2015 as ebooks Surge in Post-Christmas Boom

3316376318_b29e37032f_oNielsen’s report of a slight increase in US print book sales in 2015 is now being echoed north of the border.

Booknet Canada put out a press release today with the news that early estimates showed Canadian print book sales last year were up about 1% over 2014. The press release doesn’t say much, but it does say:

The sale of print books in Canada went up in 2015 after several years of downward trends. According to BookNet Canada’s sales tracking service, BNC SalesData, unit sales of print books in the Canadian trade market saw a 1% increase over 2014, and the overall dollar value went up by 3%.

The number one bestseller in 2015 was The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, followed by Pulitzer Prize-winner All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, Grey by E.L. James, and My Secret Sister by Jenny Lee Smith. Meanwhile, four of the top 10 bestsellers were adult colouring books, including three from Johanna Basford.

The press release goes on to note that a full report will be released later this year, and that according to BookNet’s consumer studies sales of ebooks have remained a relatively steady 17-18% of the Canadian book market share since 2013.

And while we’re on the topic, there’s little info at this time as to whether the expected post-Christmas boom in ebook sales happened or not.

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The Globe and Mail had speculated in late December that said boom wasn’t going to happen this year, but Kobo says the Globe got it wrong. That ebook retailer told me on the 29th that "This year, December 26th and 27th represented 2 of Kobo’s top 5 best global sales days ever. A fairly strong sign that the post-Christmas ebook sales surge is here to stay."

While Kobo is one of the leading players in the Canadian ebook market, two days worth of sales is still inconclusive; we need more data. Is anyone up for hacking Amazon so we can get a look at their sales reports?

images  by Jennie Robinson Faberstevenharris

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