Era of profound and accelerating disruption
We live in an era of profound and accelerating disruption – the pace of change in the book publishing world accelerates, leaving brick-and-mortar book stores are in serious trouble
Products like Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s own Nook, Apple’s iPad and smartphones can display e-books downloaded online.
According to the Association of American Publishers (AAP), US Trade publishers’ net revenue rose 6% in 2012, when compared to 2011. Component to that growth was ebook sales tipping the scale at 22.55% of total revenue:
In 2002, those Trade publishers reporting eBooks to AAP noted the format represented 0.05% of their total share of net revenue
By 2006, eBooks were reported as 0.50% of participating Trade publishers’ net revenue; it reached 1.18% by 2008
The following year, the digital transition was underway and percentages reported grew rapidly: from 3.17% (2009) to 16.98% (2011) and now, for 2012, 22.55%
In short, ebook sales are up from 0.05% to 22.55% in 10 years. That’s an average growth of 2.25% per year, though the graph has been anything but linear. Most interesting, is the growth seen from 2008 to 2012, when ebooks rose from a mere 1.18% of revenue, to 22.55%.
Assuming that pace continues, and it won’t be too many years until the publishing world is half digital. The sea change is already underway.
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Fast disruption in the publishing world — http://www.torbenrick.eu/t/r/uxn
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Unfortunately the disruption is currently limited to the countries not regulating book prices. In countries like Germany progress is much slower. I own a Kobo Glo and buy approx. 99% of my eBooks in the US and UK. Naturally this is limited to books in English. Thus I even buy German books in the English translation.