In
2016, according to sales estimates released by the Association of American
Publishers, the total number of book units sold was 40,000,000 more than in
2015 - up to 1.2% - but revenue declined by 5.1% - to 26.24 billion
dollars. To me, the only conclusion one
can draw from this, is that publishers aren’t charging enough for books.
Who
sells 40 million more units but sees revenue decline by 420 million dollars?
There
are some positives, however, in the data:
·
Trade
sales were up 1.5% but other areas declined.
·
Adult
fiction was the only segment within trade books to decline.
·
Print
sales rose, e-books fell, and downloadable audio doubled its 2012 total.
·
Mass
market paperbacks only fell .4%.
·
Adult
non-fiction, is the largest revenue provider at $5.87 billion, up over 5% from a
year ago.
·
Religious
presses soared nearly 7% in revenue in one year.
·
Children’s
books and YA jumped by 6.7%.
Book
publishers must raise their prices.
Stores and vendors like Amazon or B&N can choose to pass along discounts
to consumers if it wishes, but publishers need to be financially healthy.
It
is great that more books sold last year than in 2015, because that could
indicate an expansion in the number of book buyers or it means voracious
readers are expanding their reading. Or
maybe more people chose to buy discounted books as presents.
Publishers Weekly, in analyzing the
data, suggested that adult fiction declined steeply because there was a lack of
a big book “as was the inability of novelists to get media attention while the
broadcast and cable networks covered the presidential election.”
What
I find to be remarkable is that non-fiction adult trade books is doing so
well. This is the exact category of content
the Internet, with all of its free blogs, resources, and data was supposed to
make outdated and obsolete for book buyers.
Instead it’s seeing a resurgence.
I
expect to see book sales rise for 2017.
Why? I’m an optimist who bets on books every day. I think with more
indie stories and even Amazon brick and mortar coming out, we’ll see higher
sales. I also believe in a non-election, non-Olympics, war-free year, and an
improving economy, we’ll see more media covering books and more people looking
to enjoy the escape books provide us.
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