Publishing industry statistics for a number of markets have been published over the last month including the USA, the UK, France and a special report on ebooks and audiobooks.
The Association of American Publishers released it Statshot annual report for 2018 on 21 June 2019 announcing that the U.S. book publishing industry generated an estimated $25.82 billion in net revenue, representing 2.71 billion units. The figures are based on trade, higher education course materials, preK-12 instructional materials, professional books, and university press and cover all formats, from all distribution channels. A major highlight from the report was that downloaded audio remained the fastest growing format, with 28.7% year-over-year revenue growth from 2017 to 2018 and 181.8% revenue growth over the past five years (2014 – 2018). You can read the full announcement here.
Audiobooks were also a standout performer in the Publishers Association (UK) yearbook, released on 26 June 2019. Audiobook sales income grew 49% in 2018 reaching £69m. With digital sales continuing to rise (up 3%) against a drop in physical sales (5%), Stephen Lotinga, CEO of the Publishers Association said ‘UK publishing continues to satisfy the insatiable consumer appetite for books in all forms. Investment in digital is paying off, driving growth and meeting reader demand to access books at any time in the format of their choice.’ Read all the details here.
In France, digital sales were a bright spot in what proved to be a mixed year. Digital sales represented 8.42% of publishers revenues generating €212.6m. Total revenues dropped 4.38% to €2,670m with the number of copies sold falling 2.52% to 419 million. You can read more detailed figures here (in French).
Finally, Rüdiger Wischenbart published his Digital Consumer Book Barometer which looked at e-books and audiobooks in Canada, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and English imports. You can download the barometer here.
