Vox.com article analyzing why the 2010s did not bring about an ebook revolution; In 2019 (in USA) ebook sales are around 20% and print book sales around 80%
The 2010s were supposed to bring the ebook revolution. It never quite came., https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/23/20991659/ebook-amazon-kindle-ereader-department-of-justice-publishing-lawsuit-apple-ipad, 23rd Dec. 2019
I find this article to be of great interest even though I am a not-for-profit author & self-publisher of 2 books so far, as against commercial (for-profit) books.
Some points based on my understanding of the article:
* Amazon Kindle introduced in 2007 made ebooks mainstream.
* Analysts expected ebook sales to outstrip print book sales.
* At end of 2010s decade (in 2019), ebook sales are about 20% of total book sales with other 80% being print book sales. Some analysts in 2010 may have thought it would have been the other way around at end of the decade (in 2019): 80% ebook sales and 20% print book sales.
* Ebooks are not selling cheap as was expected. As an example, the article states that Sally Rooney's Normal People costs $12.99 but only $11.48 as hardcover
* The article goes on to cover pricing issues in detail (which I am not capturing in this post) and how the publishing industry's big companies (5 or 6 of them) decide pricing. After Apple entered the market with iPad (in 2010) there seems to have been some ebook pricing agreements between Apple and the Big Six publishing houses (in USA, I presume). US DOJ filed a lawsuit against them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Apple_Inc. states: "United States v. Apple Inc., 952 F. Supp. 2d 638 (S.D.N.Y. 2013), was a US antitrust case in which the Court held that Apple Inc. conspired to raise the price of e-books in violation of the Sherman Act.
The suit, filed in April 2012, alleged that Apple Inc. and five book publishing companies conspired to raise and fix the price for e-books in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act.[1: Mui, Ylan Q. and Hayley Tsukayama (April 11, 2012). "Justice Department sues Apple, publishers over e-book prices". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2014-06-01.] The publishers are Hachette Book Group, Inc., HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Group, Inc., and Simon & Schuster, Inc. (collectively referred to as the Publisher Defendants). Only Apple proceeded to trial while the Publisher Defendants settled their claims."
* The article states that self-published authors set their ebook prices very low (e.g. $2.99) and are flourishing.
[I thank vox.com and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me creating a few points of summary of the vox.com article in this post in my own words, and I thank Wikipedia and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extract(s) from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
I find this article to be of great interest even though I am a not-for-profit author & self-publisher of 2 books so far, as against commercial (for-profit) books.
Some points based on my understanding of the article:
* Amazon Kindle introduced in 2007 made ebooks mainstream.
* Analysts expected ebook sales to outstrip print book sales.
* At end of 2010s decade (in 2019), ebook sales are about 20% of total book sales with other 80% being print book sales. Some analysts in 2010 may have thought it would have been the other way around at end of the decade (in 2019): 80% ebook sales and 20% print book sales.
* Ebooks are not selling cheap as was expected. As an example, the article states that Sally Rooney's Normal People costs $12.99 but only $11.48 as hardcover
* The article goes on to cover pricing issues in detail (which I am not capturing in this post) and how the publishing industry's big companies (5 or 6 of them) decide pricing. After Apple entered the market with iPad (in 2010) there seems to have been some ebook pricing agreements between Apple and the Big Six publishing houses (in USA, I presume). US DOJ filed a lawsuit against them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Apple_Inc. states: "United States v. Apple Inc., 952 F. Supp. 2d 638 (S.D.N.Y. 2013), was a US antitrust case in which the Court held that Apple Inc. conspired to raise the price of e-books in violation of the Sherman Act.
The suit, filed in April 2012, alleged that Apple Inc. and five book publishing companies conspired to raise and fix the price for e-books in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act.[1: Mui, Ylan Q. and Hayley Tsukayama (April 11, 2012). "Justice Department sues Apple, publishers over e-book prices". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2014-06-01.] The publishers are Hachette Book Group, Inc., HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Group, Inc., and Simon & Schuster, Inc. (collectively referred to as the Publisher Defendants). Only Apple proceeded to trial while the Publisher Defendants settled their claims."
* The article states that self-published authors set their ebook prices very low (e.g. $2.99) and are flourishing.
[I thank vox.com and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me creating a few points of summary of the vox.com article in this post in my own words, and I thank Wikipedia and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extract(s) from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
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