“Audio Book sales posted a small decrease of 0.5 percent for February compared to last year’s figures with sales totaling $10.5 million; sales for the whole year were up by 9.5 percent. E-books sales rose by 44.7 percent for the month ($2.5 million); the category also posted an increase of 26.4 percent for the year. (E-book figures were compiled in cooperation with the International Digital Publishing Forum.)” – News release from Association of American Publishers.
The TeleRead take: Great—at least about e-books! But keep in mind we’re still talking about just a fraction of the tens of billions in p-book sales. Possibly the Sony Reader, shown in the photo, accounted for much of the increase. Now to think what e-books could accomplish without Draconian DRM being so common! Meanwhile consider the improved displays on the way. So, folks, why do you think audio book sales are down?
Well, I occasionally allow ‘Stephen Hawking’ to read to me on MS Reader. I find it soothing, though the infrequent mispronunciations are unpleasant. I wish you could tell the program how to pronounce the word in question. But that’s bound to cut into audio book sales, considering how flipping expensive they are. Somebody’s got to reimburse the talent and the producer, but that still makes audio books way expensive.
Regards,
Scott