The Association of American Publishers has just released new data that does not paint a rosy picture for the future of e-books. The digital format fell 2.7% in the first quarter of 2016.
E-Books are not the only format that have been experiencing a large decline in 2016. Trade sales during the quarter were $1.37 billion, down 7.4%. Adult books generated $941.3 million in sales, representing a 10.3% drop. Childrens/YA Books were down 2.1% at $320.5 million. The lone bright spot were audiobooks, which grew a staggering 35.3%
March was an especially bad month for books in general. Trade books sales were $458.7 million, down 5.6% year-over-year and e-book sales were down 21.4% March and 21.8% year-over-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.
