Laura Lippman's New Thriller Sells More Ebooks Than Hardcovers

Posted on August 27, 2010

The Wall Street Journal's Digits blog reports that Laura Lippman's new thriller, I'd Know You Anywhere, sold more ebooks than hardcovers during its first five days on sale. Frank Albanese, a senior vice president at HarperCollins, says enough people now have ereaders that a good review can give a book a "faster lift on the digital side."

"This is the first book of ours of any consequence that has sold more e-books than hardcovers in the first week," said Frank Albanese, a senior vice president at HarperCollins. "What we're seeing now is that if a book gets a good review, it gets a faster lift on the digital side than it does on the physical side because people who have e-readers can buy and read it immediately."

Amazon.com announced in July that it was selling more ebooks than hardcovers. Authors and publishers are now also starting to see ebooks outsell hardcovers. The Digits post says some experts believe ebooks could be 20% to 25% of publishers' total revenue by the end of 2012. The Ebook version outselling the hardcover version of a new novel will probably be a common occurrence by then.