e-book numbers continue to rise

The process has been slow but e-book numbers show continued healthy growth according to the latest publishing data. Against a backdrop of typical 2.5% annual growth in book sales over the last decade (more than $25 billion of revenue in 2007 according to AAP), the e-book proportion is miniscule (less than $100 million) but growing much faster. This January alone, e-book sales showed record numbers again suggesting a further spurt in 2008 is likely. It’s not easy to get accurate data on these issues but the International Digital Publishing Forum provides wholesale estimates and intriguing data nuggets: did you realize Japanese readers were buying over 300% more books to read on their phones than the previous year or that sales for e-books doubled in Korea in 2007? And you can’t just dismiss this by saying that selling 3 books instead of 1 is a 300% growth — the $ amounts for Korea alone top $140m. Not sure how much of this is due to nifty new readers or the increasing pressure to condense your entire life into your cell phone but all these data provide an interesting counterpoint to the negative assessments of people’s reading habits. I don’t dispute the NEA (well, perhaps a little) but my view is that we are all spending more time reading now than ever before, if by reading you include more than curling up with a book.