Hachette has just announced that sales in the United States has decreased by 4.2% in the third quarter ended September 30, compared to the same period last year. They have also reported that e-Books accounted for 24% of total book sales in the first nine months of 2015, down from 28% in the January-September period of 2014.
The United States is not the only market that has seen a decline in digital revenue. Hachette has also reported that e-Book sales have also fallen in the U.K. and accounted for 30% of total book sales, down from 34% a year ago. Despite the drop in e-book sales, overall revenue in the U.K. rose 1.2% due to a good performance in education and strong sales of adult coloring books.
In the last few weeks other major publishers such as Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster have both acknowledged that e-book sales have fallen not only in the past three months, but all of 2015.
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.
