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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Inquiries
John Roderick
631-689-3038
Membership Inquiries
Nicholas Bogaty
Executive
Director
OeBF
212-924-9081
eBooks Get Serious:
Sales expected to top $10 million in 2003, Unit
Sales Grow 40% Over 2002
First Industry-wide eBook Statistics Released
New York, NY á September 16, 2003 á Churning steadily just
below the high profile of the music industry´s digital drama, electronic
publishing has quietly become a major force in the worlds of media and
technology. In the first half of this year, alone, eBook sales revenues are up
by 30% and unit sales up by 40% over the same period in 2002. This compares to
an annual growth rate of just about 5% in traditional print publishing. The
Open eBook Forum (OeBF), the electronic publishing industry´s trade and
standards organization, reveals detailed statistics on the current state of
eBooks and provides a comprehensive industry analysis in its first quarterly
eBook and eDocument Publishing and Retail Statistics.
Compiled from data submitted by 34 of the world´s leading
publishers and retailers, the analysis marks the first-ever quantitative
assessment of the electronic publishing industry.
óThose of us in the industry have been seeing real signs of
growth from every direction,Ç said OeBF Executive Director Nick Bogaty.
óLibraries are a huge growth category as they look to revitalize themselves in
the age of Google; school systems are finding that today´s kids like to read
when the media is digital; and consumers are snatching up better devices and
more titles as fast as they can. But until now, all of the evidence of growth
has been anecdotal. The goal of this program is to put some concrete numbers
behind the successes we´re seeing in this maturing industry.Ç
óIn addition to the fact that the numbers show strong growth for eBooks, it's
good to finally have comprehensive statistical data to help us analyze the
industry,Ç said Keith Titan, Senior Director of ePublishing and eCommerce at
Simon & Schuster. óOur own sales year-to-date have shown double digit growth,
but it's great to see that the whole eBook market is vibrant and that progress
is being made not just in sales but in content selection at retailers and in new
releases from publishers industry-wide.Ç
óAt the retail level, the eBook industry is not unlike the
traditional print business of twenty years ago,Ç said Scott Pendergrast,
co-owner of Fictionwise.com. óInnovative companies who understand the medium
and deliver added value to customers can carve out a healthy business.
Fictionwise.com is experiencing explosive growth and we'll sell a million
dollars worth of eBooks in 2003.Ç
In compiling the data, the OeBF subdivided the electronic
publishing industry into two categories: retailers and publishers. In instances
where publishers sold eBooks directly to consumers, their sales data was
reported in the retailer category and their publishing data was reported in the
publishing category. Among the study´s findings are:
Retailers:
-
Unit
Sales: A total of 660,991 eBooks have been sold by retailers in the
first half of 2003, a 40% increase over the same period in 2002, during which
time 471,995 units were sold.
-
Number of Titles Available: The
total number of eBooks on sale has increased to 280,590 year-to-date, a
144% increase over the same period in 2002, during which time 114,736 were
available.
-
Revenues: $4,965,171 in
sales have been logged by retailers in the first half of 2003, a 30% increase
over the same period in 2002 during which time retailers made $3,828,250 on
sales of eBooks.
Publishers:
-
Unit Sales: A total of 620,277 eBooks have
been sold by publishers in the first half of 2003, a 60% increase over the same
period of 2002, during which time 388,589 units were sold.
-
Number of Titles Published: The total
number of eBooks published year-to-date is 3,614, a 45% increase over the same
period in 2002, during which time 2,485 titles were published.
-
Revenues: $3,637,046 in sales have been
logged by publishers in the first half of 2003, a 29% increase over the same
period in 2002 during which time publishers made $2,815,488 on sales of eBooks.
A more detailed report of the full survey findings,
including Quarterly Sales Figures from Quarters 1-4 2002 and Quarters 1-2
2003, Best Selling Titles, Best Selling Genres and the results of
Mini-Surveys, in which publishers and retailers offer growth projections
through 2004, is available only to OeBF members and companies who participated
in the survey.
Publishers and retailers that contributed to the survey
are: Abingdon Press/Cokesbury, Amazon.com, Inc., AOL Time Warner Book Group,
Barnes & Noble.com, Bookselecta.com Ltd, Dell Magazines, Double Dragon
Publishing, eBooks Corporation Ltd, Electric eBook Publishing, Ellora's Cave
Publishing, Inc., E-Reads, Fictionwise, Inc., Franklin Electronic Publishers,
Hard Shell Word Factory, HarperCollins Publishers, Houghton Mifflin Company,
Humana Press Inc, Laridian, Inc., Mind Like Water, Inc., Mobipocket, Mushroom
Publishing, NUMILOG, OverDrive, Inc., Palm Digital Media, powells.com, RAND,
Random House, Inc., Simon & Schuster, Spes Editorial, St. Martin's Press, The
McGraw-Hill Companies, University of California Press, Walker & Company and
Zondervan.
The survey was conducted over a period of two weeks, with
participating companies submitting data through a secure, password-protected Web
site maintained by the OeBF. The survey methodology and data aggregation process
was developed and supervised by Harold Henke, Ph.D., Principal Consultant,
Chartula, Inc., an independent consultant retained by the OeBF.
A 12 page full statistical report is available only to OeBF
members and companies who contributed to the statistics program. Membership
information can be found on the OeBF website at
http://www.openebook.org/membership.htm.
The OeBF will collect and release statistics on an ongoing
quarterly basis. The next report will contain statistics for Q3 2003. All
companies including non-OeBF members are welcome and encouraged to participate
in the program. A registration form is located at
http://www.openebook.org/statsregistration.asp.
Members of the media who would like access to the full
report and charts should contact John
Roderick at or
631-689-3038.
About the Open eBook Forum:
The Open eBook Forum, www.openebook.org, is an
international non-profit trade and standards organization for the electronic
publishing industry. The organization is supported by membership dues and the
generous support of Adobe Systems, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, OverDrive, Inc.
and Palm Digital Media.
An OeBF member list and membership information can be found
on the OeBF Web site at www.openebook.org.
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