AAP Reports eBook Sales Down 9.3% in First Third of 2015
The AAP’s latest monthly report lends credence to the premise that the major publishers are feeling the sting of high ebook prices.
The Association of American Publishers draws its data from 1,200 publishers. They no longer offer much in the way of specifics most months, but this month they did share a few interesting factoids:
- Publishers’ book sales for January thru April were down 5.6% ($3.0 billion compared to $3.2 billion)
- Trade book sales were down 2.1% year-to-date (and down 2.9% for the month)
- Adult Books were up 3.5%, while Kids/YA and Religious presses were down 15.1% and 9.2%, respectively
- Downloadable audiobooks grew by 33.3% through April
- Hardback book sales were down 4%, and
- eBooks were down 9.3%
All of the figures cited above are year to date (with one exception).
I wasn’t planning to report on these figures (there isn’t enough data to analyze) but I thought it worth noting that the AAP reported such a steep decline in ebook revenues.
It’s almost as if the Agency deals signed by six major publishers (and subsequent high ebook prices) is impacting ebook sales. You don’t suppose there’s a price war going on between Amazon and the publishers, do you?
image by The Shopping Sherpa
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