Digital book sales in the United States had a modest increase in the first month of 2023. This past January ebook sales saw a 3.7% gain generating $85 million in revenue. Digital audiobook sales continued to be the fastest-growing segment in publishing and grew 9.2%, coming in at $69.6 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 11.7% coming in at $1.1 million.
In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of January, in the Trade category, Hardback revenues were up 0.3%, coming in at $264.0 million; Paperbacks were up 7.0%, with $276.9 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 35.7% to $12.4 million; and Special Bindings was down 2.1%, with $15.6 million in revenue.
Religious press revenues were down 1.8% in January, coming in at $73.3 million. Hardback revenues were down 4.5% to $40.3 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were down 1.3% to $15.8 million, eBook revenues were down 2.2% coming in at $4.2 million, and Digital Audio revenues were up 9.5% at $2.9 million.
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.
