Survey Finds Adult Fiction Ebooks Outsold Hardcovers in 2011

Posted on July 18, 2012

A survey co-produced by the Association of American Publishers and the Book Industry Study Group has found that adult fiction ebooks outsold hardcovers last year. However, publishers' revenue from print books ($11.1 billion) was still over five times greater than ebook revenues ($2 billion) in 2011.

The 2012 BookStats study includes data provided by 1,977 publishers. Here are some key highlights from the 2012 study:

• Total book sales declined by 2.5% in 2011 compared to 2010.
• Sales by online retailers represented 13% of total sales, an increase of 35% from 2010
• Sales by brick-and-mortal book retailers represented 31.5% of total sales, down 12.6% from 2010
• Children's/Young Adult ranked as the fastest-growing category in publishing in 2011 - sales increased 12% in 2011