In July 2022 in the United States eBook revenue is on the decline. Revenue was down 6.6% for the month as compared to July 2021 and the format generated $82.4 million. Digital and downloadable audiobooks were up 8.9%, coming in at $69.3 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 46.5% coming in at $1.0 million. Year-to-date eBook revenues were down 8.0% as compared to the first seven months of 2021 for a total of $582.8 million Digital audiobooks were up 4.5%, coming in at $469.8 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 37.9% coming in at $8.1 million. The gulf between eBook and audiobook sales are getting smaller all of the time. I believe sometime next year, audiobook sales will surpass eBook sales.
In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of July, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were down 26.5%, coming in at $177.7 million; Paperbacks were down 4.6%, with $273.6 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 42.5% to $14.8 million; while Special Bindings were down 2.5%, with $17.2 million in revenue.
Year-to-date Trade revenues were down 2.5%, at $4.8 billion for the first seven months of the year. Hardback revenues were down 10.5%, coming in at $1.6 billion; Paperbacks were up 7.0%, with $1.8 billion in revenue; Mass Market was down 24.8% to $110.4 million; and Special Bindings were up 0.7%, with $99.0 million in revenue.
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.