Ebook revenues have been soaring since April, when most people were self-isolating and thousands of bookstores were closed. This trend continued in June when eBook revenues were up 39.0% for the month as compared to June 2019 for a total of $110.3 million. On a year-to-date basis, eBooks were up 12.7%, coming in at $544.5 million for the first six months of 2020. Notably, eBooks revenues in the Children’s and YA category saw a 132.5% jump during the month, coming in at $14.6 million. On a year-to-date basis eBooks revenues in the Children’s and YA category were up 62.4% for the first six months of the year, generating $61.6 million.
Digital audiobook sales increased by 6.2% compared to June of last year, reaching $54.1 million in revenue. On a year-to-date basis, audiobooks was up 14.1% as compared to the first half of 2019, with a total of $316.6 million for the year so far.
Trade sales were up 24.4% year-over-year, coming in at $700.3 million. Year-to-date (January-June 2020) Trade sales were $3.6 billion, an increase of 2.8%, as compared to the same period in 2019.
In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of June, in the Trade (consumer publications) category, Hardback revenues jumped 35.2%, coming in at $227.6 million; Board Books were up 41.7%, with $12.1 million in revenue; and Paperbacks were up 22.9%, with $248.0 million in revenue. On a year-to-date basis, Hardback revenues were $1.2 billion, down 0.8%; Paperbacks were $1.2 billion, up 1.6%; and Mass Market was $108.9 million, a decline of 2.7% as compared to the first six months of 2019.
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.
