>Straight from the Associated Press. This is one reason I jumped on the E-Book bandwagon and abandoned my search for an agent/publisher. After a few years of sending out endless expensive book proposals, synopses, letters of introduction, etc, I just published my novel on Smashwords (who, in turn, publishes it to the major e-tailers). And who knows, maybe i’ll catch the eye of some agent or publisher. Now, onto the article:
The e-book boom has reached new heights, but not high enough to boost book sales overall.
Helped by millions of Kindles, Nooks and other digital devices given for holiday gifts, e-book sales jumped in January and surpassed purchases of hardcovers and mass market paperbacks, according to a new survey. The Association of American Publishers reported Thursday that e-sales more than doubled from $32.4 million in January 2010 to $69.9 million in January 2011.
Hardcovers sales fell from $55.4 million to $49.1 million, and mass market paperbacks, a format that’s declining as baby boomers seek books with larger print, fell from $56.4 million to $39 million.
Total sales, which include the education and professional markets, were $805.7 million in January, slightly below the $821.5 million reported last year.
Not all AAP members participate, but the survey includes results from Random House, Inc., Simon & Schuster and other leading publishers.
The new numbers “pretty much reflect reality,” Simon & Schuster CEO and president Carolyn Reidy said Thursday, although she cautioned that e-sales tend to be especially high in January as new customers test the format.
She said e-sales likely dropped after January but will settle at a level that’s still substantially higher than last year. Reidy said e-books were around 8 to 9 percent of the general trade market at the end of 2010 and she expects them to reach 12 to 15 percent of the market this year.
Brick ONeil 