E-Book sales for Feb 2012 cooled a bit from the record-breaking January pace, totaling $114.9M for the month. (See the note last month regarding the new methodology used to calculate these sales figures.)
Feb 2012 e-book sales: $114.9M
While impressive, these numbers are only a small increase from Feb 2011’s then-record-breaking $90.3M. According to the AAP, last February’s figure was artificially inflated due to a “one-off retail revenue transaction report” that “now makes that figure abnormally high.”
It appears print books had a banner month, pushing total sales to $578.3M, the second-highest month I’ve seen since I’ve been tracking these figures (Oct 2010 clocked in at $609.7M).
Adult Book Sales:
- Adult Hardcover: $134.5M
- Adult Trade Paper: $125.0M
- Adult Mass-Market Paper: $64.6M
- Adult E-Book: $92.5M
Young Adult Book Sales:
- YA Hardcover: $82.9M
- YA Trade Paper: $56.4M
- YA E-Book: $22.4M
If those numbers are accurate, it’s the best month for mass-market paperbacks since Sep 2010, which had been in a steady decline. E-Books accounted for 19.9% of the total sales reported above, a decrease from last month, but a little above last year’s average of 19.1%.
UPDATE: Religious e-books accounted for $7,600,000, bringing the total to $122.5M for the month.
4 Responses to “February 2012 E-Book Sales $114.9M”
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It’s interesting that mass paperbacks keep falling lower and lower. I read both novels and ebooks and personally all the books that are in mass that I want to read cost MORE or about the same as an ebook version. I’d rather have the tangible product at that point.
Hi Ethan, thanks for stopping by and for the comment!
Most readers I’ve talked to agree with you — as do I — that e-books should cost less than the least-expensive print version of a book. I think we’re seeing that more and more often (and that will continue to be the trend), because it is undeniable that there are some savings with e-books. And I think they should be passed on to the reader, although there is not always agreement over how much those savings really are.
(More info here: http://www.davidderrico.com/cost-breakdowns-e-books-vs-printed-books/)
Personally, I think e-books should be much less expensive that paperbacks (hence why I price mine at only $2.99). But there should certainly be some savings.
As more and more e-books are priced reasonably (below their mass-market counterparts), I think we’ll see MMP sales continue to suffer.
I am the Author of”Reincarnation or memory transfer-Which?” I would like to know if you can locate the number of e books sold also the paperback edition.I would really appreciate it if you can furnish me with that information,thank you.Abolade Nkosi Tayo
The data I’ve been finding does not break down number of e-books sold, just by dollar amount. Sorry.