A recent article I came across said that eBook sales declined by 4.9% in January 2019. Not a big number, but you’ve got to wonder why.
Self-publishing is no longer considered a “fad” in the writing world. Many authors I know are self-published, and Writers Digest even has a self-published author award given annually. With more writers no longer seeking representation, or using self-publishing to find representation, it seems odd that the number of sales would decline.
The article also noted that downloaded audio continues to be the format with the highest percent revenue growth in all of publishing with a 36.1% in January 2019. Good news for those of you looking to add an audio option to your story!
Back to the bad news: eBooks continue to decline from prior years, down 4.9% from the same period in 2018.
Quote from the article:
The Association of American Publishers has just proclaimed that in January 2019, publisher revenue for trade books was $543.8 million, down 3.2% from January 2018. Among the three trade book categories, increased revenue for Religious Presses (8.1%) and Children’s/Young Adult (4.3%) in January 2019, partially offset a decline in Adult Books (-7.3%) for the same period in 2018. Revenue for trade books includes sales to bookstores, wholesalers, direct to consumer, online retailers, etc.
So what are we as authors to do? Write more? Market harder?
I think the answer is – nothing.
When we get news like this, we can’t let it rattle our passion for the written word. We don’t stop writing. We don’t stop self-publishing. We don’t stop marketing ourselves. We don’t stop attending writing conferences. We don’t stop sending work to our beta readers to tear up.
We don’t stop.
Trends come and go. What goes down will eventually come back up.
In the meantime, let’s support each other! Go on Amazon and grab a colleges’ book for $2.99. Read a self-published book and write a nice review. Post a helpful writing tip in your Facebook writing group.
Most importantly – don’t stop.
This post has too much math in it. I’m going to take a reading break now.
