The Japanese publishing industry has experienced a solid year of growth according to the All Japan Magazine and Book Publisher’s and Editor’s Association. They have reported that the combined physical and digital sales of the manga industry in Japan amounted to $3.91 billion billion in 2016, a 0.4% growth compared to 2015 where all formats generated $3.89 billion US.
Print manga generated $1.71 billion in 2016, a 7.4% decrease from the previous year, while sales of manga magazines amounted to $892 million, a 12.9% decrease from the previous year. The combined $2.60 billion total of print sales of manga from both compiled book volumes and magazines saw a 9.3% decrease from last year. This the 15th year in a row to mark a decline in sales for manga’s print market.
Meanwhile the bright spot of the publishing industry is digital manga. This format garnered $1.28 billion, a 27.1% increase from the previous year, while sales of digital manga magazines amounted to $27.24 million, a 55% increase from the previous year. The combined $1.31 billion total of digital sales of manga from both compiled book volumes and magazines saw a 27.5% increase from last year.
The Japanese e-book industry has experienced a 13.2% increase in sales and garnered $22 million in 2016. Meanwhile the traditional publishing industry is currently worth $6.4 billion, even though it had a very small drop of 0.7%.
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.
