Books in June

Posted Mon, 09/12/11

According to the Association of American Publishers (AAP), book sales in June dropped 14.6% to $945 million. However, e-book sales continue to skyrocket.

The following information comes from the September 12th issue of Shelf Awareness:

Trends of the last year continued: sales of printed books were down in almost all categories, while sales of e-books climbed at triple-digit rates (up 167.1% for the month and 161.3% for the first half of the year) and downloaded audio had a healthy gain of 24.9%. Among traditional books, adult paperback had the biggest drop by far (63.8%). E-books represented 8.5% of total net books sales and about 20.1% of trade book sales, which were roughly $399.5 million.

The trends seem to be wide-reaching and consistent. June was a rather slow month for me as far as sales go, but July and August exploded. My sales increased by more than 50% via Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and September has also gotten off to a roaring start.

Being a Virgo, statistics naturally fascinate me. I'm one of those people who keeps my own spreadsheets (apart from the monthly reports offered by Amazon and Barnes & Noble), which I update on a daily basis now. I'm basically on my own in this career venture, so it is essential I keep an eye on all aspects of the business. I rarely leave anything to chance.

However, there are days when I wish I could just plop down in front of the computer and write to my heart's content.

After all, that's what started this whole ball of wax, isn't it?

Irish Eyes: Books & Reading    Irish Eyes: Writing

Tags: Books & Reading; Writing