I did a post recently giving my cracked crystal ball look at the publishing industry, and after some spirited discussions on Twitter about what the future of print books might be, I decided to follow up on that post by taking a microscopic look at the issue from the perspective of my own sales and how it’s been affecting my business decisions.
So, let’s set the stage by taking a look at my sales for July, which has been the peak month so far this year. Here’s how it looks:
| Sales Channel | Copies Sold | Price Range | Royalties Earned |
| Lightning Source (print) | 40 | $9.95-$16.95 | $102.62 |
| CreateSpace (print) | 50 | $9.95 | $83.50 |
| Kindle Store (ebooks) | 21,186 | $0.00-$5.99 | $32,877.00 |
| Other eBooks | 360 | $0.00-$5.99 | $700.00* |
* Note that the sales reporting for the other ebook channels I have via Smashwords aren’t as timely or accurate as the Kindle store, so these figures are approximate.
Now, you don’t have to be a statistical genius to see what’s going on in this table. Forgetting the copies sold for the ebooks, which in this month included a ton of free versions of IN HER NAME: EMPIRE, and just looking at the bottom line dollar figures, the “other” ebook sales channels did at least three times better than my total print sales, while Kindle sales were almost 170 times more.
“Well, hey, you just focused on the ebook market and left the print book lovers in the cold, you swine!”
I’ll certainly confess to slanting things more at the Kindle market, in particular, as it’s the biggest ebook market, but I wasn’t ignoring everything else. Oddly enough, looking back at my sales before they started taking off in February, the ratio of earnings between my ebook and print sales was still drastically tilted in the favor of ebook sales on what I estimate to be a 25:1 ratio, if not higher. So, it’s not like I ever put my print books under a black cloth and hid them. In fact, I even dropped the prices on them after my ebook sales started taking off (note: I’ll also confess here that I can’t add: my royalties for the print books are higher than $1.00 a piece, but maybe as much as $1.70 – I can’t do math!). Yes, I sold more after that, but not exactly enough to retire on.
This brings us to the ongoing discussion “out there” about the future of print books.
Let me make it clear that I don’t believe print books (and by that, I really mean novels more than anything else) are going to just disappear overnight, or even in the next fifty years. There is going to be a continued market for print books for the foreseeable future. There are lots of people who love physical books and have no intention of giving them up. I think that’s great and I love you guys & gals!
However, the inescapable reality is that the print market is rapidly diminishing. Again, you don’t have to be an industry expert to see that. B. Dalton – gone. Borders – gone. Books-a-Million has suffered losses every quarter so far this year. Barnes & Noble isn’t doing great, but hopefully will hang on. If it survives, it’ll largely be due to the success of the Nook, and because there won’t be much other “big store” competition, especially if Books-a-Million eventually goes down the tubes. And on Amazon, Kindle book sales continue to outstrip print sales by a growing margin, and the Kindle is penetrating more markets outside the U.S.
With their retail outlets dying, how are the legacy print publishers are going to survive? Answer: they won’t, unless they can adapt to the new paradigm.
As for me, I’ve really been questioning whether I should keep making print editions of my books. If you look at the numbers I had for July (other months are roughly the same proportionally), it’s sort of hard to get past how much the ebook segment is bringing in compared to print sales. From the business point of view, is it really worth the bother?
After a great deal of thought I’ve come to the conclusion that it is. But not because of some of the silly arguments people have been making in support of print books (for some examples, see this article on Big Think). It’s because even if the print editions are only bringing in $200 a month or whatever, that’s still $2400 a year, which in our area is good for a mortgage payment with a bit left over. To me, that’s an argument that actually makes sense.
Excellent Blog Michael, now about that interest free loan we discussed, you do remember don’t you….
Micheal,
I think there is one other argument for continuing print books. Customers want them. And a happy customer is worth more than just that single sale. A happy customer, with your print book in hand, will tell others about your book; will buy your future books; will help build your brand. I don’t think it’s fair to just look at the numbers.
And besides, I still like print books too.
Nice post, thanks.
Robert
Some want print books, but they’re dial hard anachronists or collectors. I have a library of over 4000 books that I took when I moved to Mexico. On a thunb drive.
I don’t see a good reason for dropping printed books. It’s easy to layout the text interior and you can use the same cover that you already had made for your ebooks.
So it’s an extra income source for very little work to set up and little or no ongoing costs.
I don’t see a downside.
There are those of us who have a difficult time focusing our failing eyesight on a computer screen and we REALLY appreciate your decision to keep publishing print versions, Michael. Thank you very much.
Michael,
I personally have found it much more convenient to use the ereader. I love Kindle, and use the app on my smartphone quite a bit. However, I think it would be a tremendous shame to get rid of the paperbacks. There is still nothing like curling up with a paper back on a rainy day and enjoying the smell and feel of the genuine thing. It would be a shame for them to go the way of cassettes ad hi def dvds, but unfortunately money talks.
Michael,
I have to agree that the way of the future is ebooks. I’ve noticed that sales for my ebooks have been significantly better than the sales of my print books. In fact, if you eliminate the royalties from ebooks and just focus on print, I’m barely going to make my money back. Between createspace fees and cover artwork, it’s almost not financially sound for me to put the books into print.
There is, however, one justification which will keep me printing hard copies of the books everytime: ego. I wanted to publish to let people read my work, but at the end of the day I just want to see a paperback version of the book sitting on the shelf. No matter how much I love my Kindle and having books readily available, I take pride in my library and all the books on the shelves of my favorite authors.
So, bottom line, ebooks for money, print for personal gluttony!
One other reason to love print books — I am a great fan of reading while relaxing in the bathtub (or hot tub if on vacation and there’s one available). So despite loving my Kindle, I always read a few books in print.
I happily live in both worlds. I’m a library director, at least for 2 more months, and we circulate 6 Kindles. The patrons mostly want to try it before they purchase an eReader. I like reading my Kindle in bed and a book while curled up in a chair.
I thouroughly love my Kindle, and most purchases lately have been eBooks. Very handy when some author-who-shall-not-be-named gets me hooked on their series and I HAVE to get the next omnibus, and then everything else he wrote. I surf and download from my chair, and another all night reading session is on.
That being said, I have a very large library of print books, that I am not willing to buy all over again in eBook versions, plus I have 2 read-a-holic daughters, and I’m sure the 3rd one will be as well. Since I am not sharing MY Kindle, they can read the print books! I do see Kindles in their future though.
I will say that if the price point gets much above $10 for an eBook, I won’t buy it.
I don’t think that books on paper will die soon, but it is really hard to buy dead-tree-ware™ in Germany that is not in German, but in english. The last bookstore with a current (as in new) selection of books in english went to a mediocre selection and then (rightly so) the way of the Dodo. This means, any time I want to buy a newly published book in english, I have to resort to Amazon, hoping that the book is available in Germany, and buy there.
Here comes the kicker, do I want to wait for the book, or do I want to start reading in a couple of minutes? Go figure.
And no, ordering the book at a local bookstore is not an option as long as the importer imposes an up to 30% price penalty compared to the price on the Amazon website.
So a look at the geographical distribution of the Amazon income might be interesting. Just saying.
Me, personally? If I know I want to keep the book for a lifetime, print is the only way to go. I collect signed, first-edition copies, typically “haute literature” (e.g., Marquez, Bowles, Bukowski). But as far as my day-to-day reading is concerned — the romance novels and thrillers that I know will eventually end up at Half-Price Books for trade-in — I’ll buy the ebook version. Taking a look at my extended family, the readers of the group age 60+ don’t have an e-reader and have no interest in them. My mom, for example, finds it very difficult to read on a computer screen, but she’s still a voracious reader. I think that there’s still a need for print books for this demographic.
It is all about personal preference. Sure it is convenient to just download but you’re bookcase looks empty with just a kindle sat on it. think of all the carpenters going out of work