Author Earnings to capture real-time sales data; releases 2017 US sales report
US-based ebook analysts Author Earnings has expanded its tracking of online US print, audio and digital book sales to capture daily data.
The data analysis company previously released quarterly reports on the state of online print and digital sales based on data captured from a single day’s sales. Author Earnings is now claiming to track more than 90% of US online sales day in real time, including individually tracked ebook sales, individually tracked audiobook sales and individually tracked online hardcover and paperback purchases.
The change was announced in a post on Author Earnings’ website, where it also published its report on US online book sales in the last three quarters of 2017.
According to the report, the ‘Big Five’ publishers—Penguin Random House (PRH), Macmillan, HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster—took the largest share in US online ebook sales, accounting for 25.6% of the overall market by volume and 43% by value.
Indie self-publishers were second, making up 17% of all ebook sales by volume and 10.6% by value. Indie publishers without a listed publisher name accounted for 18.9% of volume sales and 9.7% of value sales. Academic publishers only accounted for one percent of units sold, but 5.5% of dollar sales, due to the higher selling price of digital textbooks, and titles published under Amazon Publishing imprints accounted for 9.8% of volume and 5.1% of value.
Amazon Publishing was also the fifth-highest ebook publisher based on dollar sales, behind PRH in top spot, followed by HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster.
Traditional and academic publishers made up the majority of online print sales in the US. The ‘Big Five’ publishers led the way with 43.6% of market share by volume and 29.6% by value. Large academic and professional presses followed, with seven percent of the market by volume, but 27% by value, and small trade presses were third, with 11.5% by volume and nine percent value.
Literature and fiction was the most popular genre in both ebook and audiobook categories. For online print sales, textbooks was the highest-selling genre by value, but children’s books led the way based on units sold.
To view the full report, click here.
Category: International news
