Many publishing experts all thought that 2013 would be the year that eBook sales would start to level off and cease the near double digit gains from years prior. The Association of American Publishers has just released its annual report that looks at the first six months of 2013. Overall, eBook sales have increased by a paltry 4.8% from $618 million in 2012 to $647 million in 2013.
Children’s eBooks were hit the hardest and experienced the most noticeable drop in sales. Revenue was down to $83.7 million from $153.7 million in 2012, a decrease of 45.6%. Overall, digital kids books are down because there has not been a runaway hit like The Hunger Games for quite sometime. Also, the general public still has not embraced EPUB 3, which has a growing portfolio of interactive books and has a higher development cost.
Publishers are starting to see more money trickle in from digital books with 27.8% of their overall revenue stemming from it. 1196 US publishers took part in the survey, which provides the most accurate reflection of eBook sales.
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.
