There’s been lots of discussion lately on slowing eBook growth and the possible reasons behind it. I personally liked Barry Eisler’s analysis, discussing that there’s a difference between ebook sales slowing and the growth of sales slowing. If you haven’t read the article, go and read it. There’s lots of good stuff in it, beyond the sales question.
Sainsbury’s is adding their analysis to the mix with a recent infographic.
It’s attempting to be balanced and not inflammatory. They point out that there hasn’t been a new Hunger Games or 50 Shades to make a dramatic impact in the market.
What surprised me was the statistic that 42% of readers still read books on PCs. Really? I’m not questioning their statistic, but I am surprised that, with the prevalence of tablets, ereaders and smartphones, there are still that many people reading on traditional computers or even laptops. I also was curious about their ereader vs. tablet numbers. I wonder if they counted tablet-like readers (Kindle Fire and Nook HD, for example) as ereaders or tablets. The tablet number seemed low to me otherwise.
Anyway, a good infographic (and hey, we were listed as a source!), so what do you think about it? Agree? Disagree?
It seems to me that if you are going to do a semi-accurate study of e-book sales then you need to find a way to include indie/self-published books. If they represent 25% or more of Amazon’s sales then a large piece of the pie was left out. It may also be a significant reason for the decline in growth of books by traditional publishers who in my opinion have done very little to endear themselves to readers of e-books.
@fbr, quite true. The problem is gathering the data since Amazon isn’t good at providing it.