Amazon controls the e-book market worldwide and sells the most e-readers and e-books. The company doesn’t rely on the Kindle e-reader to drive sales; most of its customers read on its apps for Android and iOS. Amazon holds a dominant 68% market share in global e-book sales, which rises to 83% when Kindle Unlimited is included. Regarding overall sales, E-books account for 21% of Amazon’s total book sales revenue, representing 36% of its total book sales. Amazon makes around 28 billion in total book sales worldwide.
There are 44 million e-books on Amazon globally and 20 million digital books in the United States alone. Publishers and self-published authors release 7,500 new e-books worldwide every single day. Amazon makes around 28 billion in total book sales worldwide. The UK e-book market is the second largest globally. E-books represent 34% of all book sales, with Amazon UK capturing 87.9% of the e-book market.
Regarding e-book readers, 70% of them sold globally are Amazon Kindles. According to Statista insights from the Consumer Insights Global survey, in September 2024, about 17% of consumers aged 30 to 49 belong to this group. Regarding the share of Americans who own an e-reader, 14% are 50 to 64 years old, followed by 11% (18 to 29 years).
However, according to Publish Drive, e-readers might be a dying breed. “Data collected concerning the e-reader market size shows a decrease from $396.4 million in 2021 to a presumed $204.7 million in 2027.
Here are some quick facts
- Amazon claims a 67% market share of digital book sales in the United States.
- Amazon sells approximately 300 million printed books annually, generating $28 billion worldwide.
- The most competitive book category on Amazon Kindle is contemporary romance.
- Books are Amazon’s most popular product category, with 57.2 million sales.
- Memoirs and biographies were crowned the top-selling genres on Amazon in 2022.
- Amazon’s share of the audiobook market is approximately 41%.
- Kindle Unlimited enjoys robust subscriptions with over 3 million members.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
