Simon and Schuster is finally starting to see some strong gains with digital audiobooks and ebooks. In 2019 audiobook sales increased by 15% over 2018, and e-book sales, which increased for the first time in at least three years, were up 1% over 2018. Overall, digital sales in 2019 increased 7%, which is very solid. The best selling ebooks of the year were Howard Stern Comes Again, Stephen King’s The Institute and David McCullough’s The Pioneers.
Over the course of last year S&S generated $825 million in sales, although their entire revenue stream was just down 1%, which isn’t very much. The publisher is bullish on the first few months of the year with a number of notable titles that will be released. This includes The Room Where it Happened by John Bolton that is still scheduled for a March release even as it goes through a governmental review. Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare, Countdown 1945 by Chris Wallace, If It Bleeds by Stephen King, Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner, and Near Dark by Brad Thor.
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.
