Will Audiobooks Surpass E-books?

 

When Amazon launched its e-reader, The Kindle, 15 years ago, predictions of a brick-and-mortar, print-book apocalypse were tossed around all over the place. It turns out the e-book has not dethroned print and digital has not put physical bookstores out of business. However, audiobooks are on the cusp of surpassing e-books, according to data shared in a recent Publishers Weekly article.   

Audiobooks, which grew in sales by 12.8% this past year, were at $1.75 billion annually (Association of American Publishers). PW says e-books annually bring in $1.97 billion.  

Now, I think these numbers are not accurate, It’s a lot of guesswork that’s based on certain surveys and recorded sales by select retail venues from only certain participants. But whatever yardstick they’re using for both e-books and audiobooks, you can see how much progress has been made in closing the gap between the two.  

Does this mean you should run to produce an audiobook? No, but where possible, having a book available in as many formats, produced in as many languages, and sold in as many marketplaces, is ideal.   

Audiobooks are great for:

 

• Comedy albums
• Plays
• Self-help
• How-to
• Dramatic stories
• Inspirational
• Children reading along
• People who enjoy learning while multi-tasking (workouts, gardening, drawing)

E-books are great for:

 

• Information (reference books that get updated annually)
• Guidebooks
• Recipe books
• Fiction
• People who spend less/get books for free
• People who like lightweight devices to carry 1000 books

Physical books are ideal for:

• Children’s books
• Photography books
• Keepsake or coffee table books
• History books
• Tactile people who prefer paper on any subject

Whatever the genre or format, books are a valuable medium that’s growing and an integral part of society. Will we one day only listen to (and not read) a book? Not likely, but audiobooks are rising.

 

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Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.2 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts over the past decade, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Susan RoAne, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, IBPA, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information, please consult: linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.