eBooks Get Serious: Sales expected to top $10 million in 2003

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>]

Forwarded With permission from Nick Bogaty

Reply-To: <nbogaty@openebook.org>
From: "Nick Bogaty" <nbogaty@openebook.org>
To: <oebfnews2@openebook.org>
Subject: eBooks Get Serious: Sales expected to top $10 million in 2003, Unit
Sales Grow 40% Over 2002
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 08:38:04 -0400

OeBF Newsletter Subscribers:
 
Below is a press release announcing the results of Q1-Q4 2002 and Q1-Q2
2003 eBook Publishing and Retail Statistics. A full 12-page report is
available to OeBF Members. If you would like the full report, I encourage
you to join the organization. Details can be found at:
 
http://www.openebook.org/membership.htm
 
Best regards,
Nick Bogaty
Executive Director
Open eBook Forum
 
eBooks Get Serious: 
Sales expected to top $10 million in 2003, Unit Sales Grow 40% Over 2002
 
First Industry-wide eBook Statistics Released
 
New York, NY September 16, 2003 Churning steadily just below the high
profile of the music industrys digital drama, electronic publishing has
quietly become a major force in the worlds of media and technology.  In
the first half of this year, alone, eBook sales revenues are up by 30% and
unit sales up by 40% over the same period in 2002.  This compares to an
annual growth rate of just about 5% in traditional print publishing.  The
Open eBook Forum (OeBF), the electronic publishing industrys trade and
standards organization, reveals detailed statistics on the current state
of eBooks and provides a comprehensive industry analysis in its first
quarterly eBook and eDocument Publishing and Retail Statistics.
 
Compiled from data submitted by 34 of the worlds leading publishers and
retailers, the analysis marks the first-ever quantitative assessment of
the electronic publishing industry.
 
Those of us in the industry have been seeing real signs of growth from
every direction,said OeBF Executive Director Nick Bogaty.  Libraries are a
huge growth category as they look to revitalize themselves in the age of
Google; school systems are finding that todays kids like to read when the
media is digital; and consumers are snatching up better devices and more
titles as fast as they can.  But until now, all of the evidence of growth
has been anecdotal.  The goal of this program is to put some concrete
numbers behind the successes were seeing in this maturing industry.
 
In addition to the fact that the numbers show strong growth for eBooks,
it's good to finally have comprehensive statistical data to help us
analyze the industry,said Keith Titan, Senior Director of ePublishing and
eCommerce at Simon & Schuster. Our own sales year-to-date have shown
double digit growth, but it's great to see that the whole eBook market is
vibrant and that progress is being made not just in sales but in content
selection at retailers and in new releases from publishers industry-wide.
 
At the retail level, the eBook industry is not unlike the traditional
print business of twenty years ago,said Scott Pendergrast, co-owner of
Fictionwise.com.  Innovative companies who understand the medium and
deliver added value to customers can carve out a healthy business.
Fictionwise.com is experiencing explosive growth and we'll sell a million
dollars worth of eBooks in 2003.
 
In compiling the data, the OeBF subdivided the electronic publishing
industry into two categories: retailers and publishers.  In instances
where publishers sold eBooks directly to consumers, their sales data was
reported in the retailer category and their publishing data was reported
in the publishing category.  Among the studys findings are:
 
Retailers:
 
* Unit Sales: A total of 660,991 eBooks have been sold by retailers in the
first half of 2003, a 40% increase over the same period in 2002, during
which time 471,995 units were sold.
 
* Number of Titles Available: The total number of eBooks on sale has
increased to 280,590 year-to-date, a 144% increase over the same period in
2002, during which time 114,736 were available.
 
* Revenues: $4,965,171 in sales have been logged by retailers in the first
half of 2003, a 30% increase over the same period in 2002 during which
time retailers made $3,828,250 on sales of eBooks.
 
Publishers:
 
* Unit Sales: A total of 620,277 eBooks have been sold by publishers in
the first half of 2003, a 60% increase over the same period of 2002,
during which time 388,589 units were sold.
 
* Number of Titles Published: The total number of eBooks published
year-to-date is 3,614, a 45% increase over the same period in 2002, during
which time 2,485 titles were published.
 
* Revenues: $3,637,046 in sales have been logged by publishers in the
first half of 2003, a 29% increase over the same period in 2002 during
which time publishers made $2,815,488 on sales of eBooks.
 
A more detailed report of the full survey findings, including Quarterly
Sales Figures from Quarters 1-4 2002 and Quarters 1-2 2003, Best Selling
Titles, Best Selling Genres and the results of Mini-Surveys, in which
publishers and retailers offer growth projections through 2004, is
available only to OeBF members and companies who participated in the
survey.
 
Publishers and retailers that contributed to the survey are: Abingdon
Press/Cokesbury, Amazon.com, Inc., AOL Time Warner Book Group, Barnes &
Noble.com, Bookselecta.com Ltd, Dell Magazines, Double Dragon Publishing,
eBooks Corporation Ltd, Electric eBook Publishing, Ellora's Cave
Publishing, Inc., E-Reads, Fictionwise, Inc., Franklin Electronic
Publishers, Hard Shell Word Factory, HarperCollins Publishers, Houghton
Mifflin Company, Humana Press Inc, Laridian, Inc., Mind Like Water, Inc.,
Mobipocket, Mushroom Publishing, NUMILOG, OverDrive, Inc., Palm Digital
Media, powells.com, RAND, Random House, Inc., Simon & Schuster, Spes
Editorial, St. Martin's Press, The McGraw-Hill Companies, University of
California Press, Walker & Company and Zondervan.
 
The survey was conducted over a period of two weeks, with participating
companies submitting data through a secure, password-protected Web site
maintained by the OeBF.  The survey methodology and data aggregation
process was developed and supervised by Chartula, Inc., an independent
consultant retained by the OeBF.
 
A 12 page full statistical report is available only to OeBF members and
companies who contributed to the statistics program. Membership
information can be found on the OeBF website at
http://www.openebook.org/membership.htm.
 
The OeBF will collect and release statistics on an ongoing quarterly
basis. The next report will contain statistics for Q3 2003. All companies
including non-OeBF members are welcome and encouraged to participate in
the program. A registration form is located at
http://www.openebook.org/statsregistration.asp.
 
Members of the media who would like access to the full report and charts
should contact John Roderick at john@jroderick.com or 631-689-3038.
 
About the Open eBook Forum:
 
The Open eBook Forum, www.openebook.org, is an international non-profit
trade and standards organization for the electronic publishing industry.
The organization is supported by membership dues and the generous support
of Adobe Systems, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, OverDrive, Inc. and Palm
Digital Media.
 
An OeBF member list and membership information can be found on the OeBF
Web site at www.openebook.org.
 
# # #

--
Nick Bogaty
Executive Director
Open eBook Forum
nbogaty@openebook.org
(212) 924-9081 direct
(212) 208-0978 fax

Open eBook Forum Gold Sponsors:
Adobe Systems Incorporated http://ebooks.adobe.com
Microsoft Corporation http://www.microsoft.com/reader
OverDrive Inc. http://www.overdrive.com
Palm Digital Media http://www.palmdigitalmedia.com