Over the course of the global pandemic, ebook sales have been soaring. In August, 2020, US digital revenues were up 18.2% for the month as compared to August of 2019 for a total of $101.7 million. On a year-to-date basis, ebooks were up 14.8%, coming in at $754.8 million for the first eight months of 2020. Notably, revenues in the Children’s and YA category saw a 59.4% jump during the month, coming in at $10.3 million. On a year-to-date basis, revenues in the Children’s and YA category were up 63.2% for the first eight months of the year, coming in at $83.6 million.
Meanwhile, digital audiobooks continues the long-standing trend of seeing continuous growth every month since 2012. Revenues saw a 32.9% increase as compared to August of last year, generating $57.9 million in revenue. On a year-to-date basis, sales are up 17.7% as compared to the same period in 2019, with a total of $432.6 million for the year so far.
Hardcover and paperback sales in August were notably up 6.9% year-over-year, coming in at $703.6 million. Year-to-date (January-August 2020) Trade sales were $5.0 billion, an increase of 5.2%, as compared to the first eight months of 2019.
2020 continues to see audiobooks, ebooks and trade books make significant gains every single month this year. This is tremendous news for the digital publishing industry and also retailers.
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.
