Tuesday, November 28, 2017

eBooks vs Print Books


I’ve been lax in my blogging. Sorry about that.
We have been traveling, and then Thanksgiving and I’m trying to get my book Hunted into print.

It’s the first print book I’ve done and like everything it’s a challenge. I haven’t done print books because I’ve heard it’s not wort the cost and most people buy eBooks. Others say you need to satisfy the people who like a book in their hand. And then there are the articles for this year that say eBook sales are dropping.
This from CNN Media.

Sales of consumer e-books plunged 17% in the U.K. in 2016, according to the Publishers Association. Sales of physical books and journals went up by 7% over the same period, while children's books surged 16%.
The same trend is on display in the U.S., where e-book sales declined 18.7% over the first nine months of 2016, according to the Association of American Publishers. Paperback sales were up 7.5% over the same period, and hardback sales increased 4.1%.


And here’s another article from Information Today, Inc.
Recent reports from major industry sources show that ebook sales have been falling. The Association of American Publishers (AAP) reports that during the first 9 months of 2016, ebook sales in the U.S. declined by a dramatic 18.7%, compared to the same period in 2015. Measured by dollar revenue, ebook sales fell to about $877 million, while hardcover and paperback sales grew slightly to account for more than $1.7 billion and $1.6 billion respectively. In the U.K., the Publishers Association reports nearly identical results—a 17% drop in ebook sales over the same period. Likewise, NPD BookScan data reported in Publishers Weekly show that during 2016, ebook sales dropped almost 15% to about 179 million units.

And I’d love to hear your thoughts on eBook vs Print books.

7 comments:

  1. Print books do not earn you much if you want to keep them affordable. It's a challenge but I am fond of all formats of books so I try to offer them all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've suspected that those declining numbers in e-book come from traditional publishers who price their e-books at the same price as their hardbacks. So yes, those e-book sales numbers will decline because if I'm going to pay that much money, I may as well get paper. I think if you look at e-book sales across the market, to include self-published books, you'd find a different set of statistics.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with Sela, I as a reader will purchase a print over ebooks when it comes to the well known top authors. I refuse to give $10-15 for an e-book! As an author, I offer both ebooks and print to those that like one or the other.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sela and Judy - good points. And I also won't pay the inflated prices for eBooks. I'll buy print. I'll have to see if I can find more relevant info on self-pubbed eBooks.

      Delete
  4. I prefer reading ebooks. I'm self-pubbed. I put my books out as ebooks first then in print. I use my print books more for people who don't have e-readers or prefer reading print books. Since I use CreateSpace for my print books, it costs me nothing to have them available. However, I do purchase books to see at book events (libraries, craft shows, etc.) I figure if I get my stories into readers' hands, the format doesn't matter. I refuse to pay $14 or $15 for an ebook. That is ridiculous.

    ReplyDelete