As
an author you want your book to sell.
You know there are many formats that you can sell your book -- hardcover,
softcover, mass market paperback, digital audio, CD, and e-book. You also know there are many channels to sell
through -- big box stores, bookstore chains, indie bookstores, catalogs, online,
schools, etc. But did you know how book
sales are trending and where the hot markets are?
New
data released by NPD Group Book Scan shows that book sales are all over the
place. The conclusion? You should seek to sell your book in as many
formats through as many channels as possible. You have to diversify your
portfolio – to be available everywhere.
Obviously
if you are e-book-only publishing, your marketplace is strictly reserved to
e-retailers, but if you publish in other formats, the marketplace available to
you is wide-ranging.
So
what do the numbers show?
E-retailers
move about 40% of all book units sold.
Bookstores sell 40% of all print units sold. The other 20% comes from a variety of other
sources. None of these stats take into
account certain unregistered sales, such as book sales at an event where a
bookstore is not used to process sales or when authors sell copies in bulk to
organizations and groups. Further, many
sales that are processed directly by an author on his or her website do not get
counted in either.
2016
was either a down or up year depending on how you look at things. In terms of unit sales – and not actual
dollars – total sales of print and e-book units slumped in 2016 by 1.4% across
all channels. However, that figure
excluded board books and physical audiobooks.
When they are factored in, sales rose by 3.3%.
The
format that has suffered the most this decade is the mass market paperback. Since 2010, units collapsed in sales and are
down 46.4%. E-books, though they account for a lot of sales – 22.9% of all
units old – dropped from being 25.7% of all units sold in 2015. In fact, e-book unit sales have dropped every
year since their 2013 peak, when 243 million units were sold. Last year, only 179 million e-book units were
sold.
Book
clubs, fairs, and mass merchandisers largely account for the rest of the book
marketplace.
So,
as an author, you may be wondering what does all this mean? Well, it certainly shows diversification in
the marketplace works. Just selling on
Amazon is not enough, nor is being stocked at a handful of indies. Authors must
make sure they have books available in all kinds of places – digital and
brick. Where possible, offer your book
in multiple formats. Consumers have a
wide variety of preferences and tastes when it comes to how they consume
content and where they purchase it.
Be
everything to everyone – available everywhere.
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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog
are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter
@theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more
important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by
BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2017©. Born and raised in Brooklyn, now resides in
Westchester. Named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs
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