Ebooks Represent Nearly A Quarter Of 2012 Publisher Sales

The Association of American Publishers has published its 2012 revenue data, which shows that ebooks have grown steadily over the last decade and now represent nearly a quarter of US publishers' sales at 22.55-percent. The industry saw a fairly large rise in revenue of 6-percent last year over 2011, and while the substantial number of ebook revenue has shown a steady increase in electronic books, there's an indication that 2013 could see a slowing.

When the first ebook reader was launched, propelling ebooks into the mainstream, the publishing world, writers, and readers became quite polarized, with some stating that it was the salvation of the publishing industry and others decrying it as the last nail in its coffin. Regardless, ebook readers proved very popular, transforming from slow-functioning e-ink slates to Android tablets with relevant ebook reading apps.

This is easily seen in the numbers published by the AAP, which has 2002 trade publishers' ebook revenue representing 0.05-percent of its overall net revenue. This rose to 0.50-percent in 2006, and to 1.18-percent in 2008. The large rise started in 2009 at 3.17-percent, reaching 16.98-percent in 2011, and finally 22.55-percent last year. As the TNW points out, this works out to a growth of 2.25-percent per year.

When breaking ebook sales in 2012 down by month, however, the numbers show that December was its lowest, indicating that 2013 could be a slower year for ebook sales than last year. Regardless, the overall numbers keep climbing steadily, and we're sure to see 2013 be the year that trade publishers see ebook sales account for a quarter – or more – of their total net revenue.

[via The Next Web]