Innovation is the Only Way to Increase Ebook Sales

If publishers hope to grow ebook sales, they must find ways to innovate in actionable, tangible ways that will increase sales, argues Sol Rosenberg.

Editorial by Sol Rosenberg

SOL ROSENBERG

Deja Vu hung thickly as I read the headline. “Again?” I asked. This time, it was Publishers Weekly with “Soft E-book Sales Underscore Down HBG Results,” coming on the heels of the PW article three days ago“Declining E-book Sales Hit Home.”

That makes three of big five reporting declining ebooks sales. Is this news?

Unfortunately, not so much. The stats and press articles have been reporting this neo-dramatic death march for far too long.

Prima facie, it makes little sense. While everybody and his brother has been getting a smartphone (68% according to Pew Research) and 2.6 billion (with a ‘b’) smartphones globally, while many people are juggling several devices and Pew says 45% of the population has a tablet, we have been nursing a flat (and now declining) ebook market for several years.

Of course, it wasn’t always that way. Remember the good old days? In 2012 the Los Angeles Times (among others) trumpeted “Ebook Sales almost doubled in 2012” as everyone expected the party to continue. A survey published in March 2013 projected “Almost Half of Americans Expect to Buy
Then, in mid 2013, we saw this from the Book Industry Study Group :

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