For the first time this year digital book sales in the United States were up 2.7% in August 2022. The format generated over $90.7 million dollars. Whereas the digital audiobook market has been increasing every single month for the past couple of years, as it is the fastest growing segment in digital publishing. Sales for August was $73.0 million.
Year-to-date eBook revenues were down 6.7% as compared to the first eight months of 2021 for a total of $673.3 million. Digital audiobook sales was up 5.5%, coming in at $543.2 million in revenue. I remember a time when eBook sales were so much more pronounced than audiobook sales, but in the past year, the gap continues to close. Sometime in 2023, audiobook sales will surpass eBooks.
However, print sales continue to trounce digital. Total trade sales for the month was $744.3 million. Â Hardback revenues were down 19.5%, coming in at $238.4 million; Paperbacks were down 8.6%, with $277.4 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 15.2% to $15.1 million; while Special Bindings were down 16.8%, with $17.5 million in revenue.
Year-to-date Trade revenues were down 3.8%, at $5.6 billion for the first eight months of the year. Hardback revenues were down 12.1%, coming in at $1.8 billion; Paperbacks were up 4.6%, with $2.1 billion in revenue; Mass Market was down 23.8% to $125.5 million; and Special Bindings were down 2.3%, with $116.5 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.
