Year to date ebook sales were up 192%. Here are the numbers. Remember, these numbers are always low because a lot of companies don’t report and they only represent trade book sales via wholesale channels. The IDPF says the retail numbers can be as much as double the amounts due to industry wholesale discounts.
“retail numbers can be as much as double the amounts due to industry wholesale discounts.”
I presume this refers only to paper books ? It all seems very vague and estimated and of dubious value. It’s amazing the credibility that is always given to a set of numbers, irrespective of their reliability.
Generally speaking, in a niche market like e-books, 100 million of anything is impressive and it looks like Q3 e-books on this scale is going to cruise close to (or exceed) $120 million wholesale revenue. That would be 260%+ higher than Q3 2009.
It’s also worth noting Amazon sold very few Kindles in August 2010 so its e-book contribution would be mainly existing customers not new ones in honeymoon mode. No doubt the Nook camp will crow about how many more Nooks they sold than Kindles that month ….
anyway, the main point is clearly e-book growth is strong and Random House’s view that 10% of its total sales in 2010 will be e-books is another confirming fact.
“It’s also worth noting Amazon sold very few Kindles in August 2010 so its e-book contribution would be mainly existing customers not new ones in honeymoon mode.”
Actually, the new Kindles were available for pre-order at the end of July, with delivery scheduled for the end of August. It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the people who pre-ordered Kindles started buying ebooks in August. That’s what I did the following month: ordered a Kindle at the end of August and bought a half dozen ebooks in September, before the device even shipped.