The death of books has been greatly exaggerated
Radical change is certainly producing some alarming symptoms – but much of the doomsayers' evidence is anecdotal, and it's possible to read a much happier story
Lloyd Shepherd, guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 30 August 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/30/death-books-exaggerated
selected excerpts from article:
"According to Nielsen BookScan, the publishing industry standard for book sales data, book sales are pretty healthy, with one significant proviso which I'll come to. Ten years ago in 2001, 162m books were sold in Britain. Ten years later – a decade in which the internet bloomed, online gaming exploded, television channels proliferated, digital piracy rampaged and, latterly, recession gloomed – 229m books sold. So, a 42% increase in the number of books sold over the last 10 years.. . . . .
So why the very, very deep uncertainty and the gloom? Because 2011 is the year this may all change. Here's the proviso on the sales figures I mentioned. These numbers above do not include any ebook sales at all. Nielsen BookScan hasn't yet finalised its tracking of ebooks, and the year to date has seen a drop in printed book sales against 2010. But again, not as much as you'd think. Up to the week ending 13 August, overall sales were down almost 6% on 2010 in volume terms, and just over 4% in value.
Ebooks: death or glory?
The question – the defining question – is whether that gap is being filled by ebooks. David Walter, research and development analyst at Nielsen BookScan, told me that the 2011 decline was at least "partially" down to the transition to ebooks, and also mentioned the general economic climate and the reduction in the number of retail booksellers. But there are no numbers against that. Not to put too fine a point on it, we just don't know. So can we perceive yet what impact ebooks may be having?. . . "
read the complete article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/30/death-books-exaggerated
Lloyd Shepherd, guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 30 August 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/30/death-books-exaggerated
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| Not dead yet ... the London book fair. Photograph: David Levenson/Getty Images |
"According to Nielsen BookScan, the publishing industry standard for book sales data, book sales are pretty healthy, with one significant proviso which I'll come to. Ten years ago in 2001, 162m books were sold in Britain. Ten years later – a decade in which the internet bloomed, online gaming exploded, television channels proliferated, digital piracy rampaged and, latterly, recession gloomed – 229m books sold. So, a 42% increase in the number of books sold over the last 10 years.. . . . .
So why the very, very deep uncertainty and the gloom? Because 2011 is the year this may all change. Here's the proviso on the sales figures I mentioned. These numbers above do not include any ebook sales at all. Nielsen BookScan hasn't yet finalised its tracking of ebooks, and the year to date has seen a drop in printed book sales against 2010. But again, not as much as you'd think. Up to the week ending 13 August, overall sales were down almost 6% on 2010 in volume terms, and just over 4% in value.
Ebooks: death or glory?
The question – the defining question – is whether that gap is being filled by ebooks. David Walter, research and development analyst at Nielsen BookScan, told me that the 2011 decline was at least "partially" down to the transition to ebooks, and also mentioned the general economic climate and the reduction in the number of retail booksellers. But there are no numbers against that. Not to put too fine a point on it, we just don't know. So can we perceive yet what impact ebooks may be having?. . . "
read the complete article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/30/death-books-exaggerated
posted by carolc at 9/19/2011 02:39:00 PM
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