Sales of eBooks Top Sales of Hardcover Books

[yinka]

According to the Association of American Publishers (AAP) the sales of digital books in the first quarter of 2012 was larger than the sales of hardcover books, and this is the first time ever they saw such numbers.

To be precise the sales of adult (as in not for children) ebooks generated $282.3 million in revenues, while the hardcover ones generated $229.6 million for the same period.

Here’s a quote from the report:

In Q1 2012, net sales revenue for eBooks was higher than that for Hardcover; this represents a switch of positions in the category vs Q1 2011. In both quarters, however, Trade Paperback remained a clear #1 in net sales revenue despite some erosion. While eBooks continue to show growth, downloaded audiobooks also keep accelerating vs last year – as some experts have said, tied to ongoing popularity and acquisition of smartphones and mobile devices.

In other words, it is still a good time to start working on producing or publishing ebooks. I think there’s a lot of potential both on selling them directly on the web (i.e., via your website) and on selling them to specific platforms, like the Amazon.

Do you agree?