Print and ebook sales on the rise in the UK

Early results from the Bookseller’s annual digital census of UK publishers has found that print and ebook sales are on the rise, with audiobook sales ‘seeing rapid growth despite being largely untapped by most publishers’.

On average, UK publishers saw 62% of their revenue came from print sales, 33% from digital sales and 5% from audiobook sales in the past year, reports the Bookseller.

Just over half of UK publishers reported growth in digital sales in the past year, with those reporting rapid growth attributing it to ‘pricing strategy, marketing and a better understanding of their readers’.

A quarter of UK publishers reported their biggest year-on-year growth in audiobook sales, although many publishers observed that they were not making money from audiobook sales directly, as they are either licensing the content to dedicated audiobook publishers or are not acquiring audiobook rights in the first place.

The census, which closes at the end of October, is run annually ahead of the Bookseller’s FutureBook Conference.

Category: International news