Digital eBook sales at Simon & Schuster are seeing strong growth in the second financial quarter of 2012. They have risen by almost 44% and now account for 21% of the company’s total book sales. Revenues increased by 3% and garnered the company a cool $189 million from $183 million over the second quarter in 2011. Some of the ebooks that saw the most sales during this period were The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King and Cowards by Glenn Beck.
Publishing companies are seeing a massive influx in digital revenue in 2012. Penguin reported on Monday that profits for the company are down almost 50% from a year ago, mostly due to the tremendous success of the 50 Shades of Grey Trilogy and the Hunger Games. Both of these books contributed to the lack of sales, which fell by 4% to £441 million and has adjusted operating profit down 48% to £22 million. Total sales in the first six months have increased by 1/3 and now account for nearly one in five of Penguin’s total revenue. In 2009, ebooks were just 2% of Penguin’s total sales, growing to 12% last year.
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.
