‘Bookseller+Publisher’ 2012 reviews: 77% of print books published simultaneously as ebooks; 54% of adult titles written by women
An overview of Bookseller+Publisher’s reviews pages over the past year reveals some interesting statistics about the Australian publishing industry.
In total, 239 Australian and New Zealand originated titles published in 2012 were reviewed in Bookseller+Publisher, either in Bookseller+Publisher magazine or on the website www.booksellerandpublisher.com.au. Of these, 90 titles were adult fiction, 46 were adult nonfiction and 103 were children’s/YA.
Ebook editions
This is the second year that Bookseller+Publisher has recorded whether the print books in our reviews pages were published simultaneously as ebooks. In 2012, 77% of the books were available as ebooks, up slightly from 76% in 2011. Broken down that represents 90% of adult books—up slightly from 88% in 2011—and 60% of children’s/YA books—exactly the same percentage as last year.
Gender split
Looking at the 136 adult books reviewed in Bookseller+Publisher over the past year, we found that 54% were written by female authors, compared to 46% by male authors. In 2011, 56% of the adult books reviewed in the magazine were written by female authors compared to 44% by male.
Interestingly, male authors were more highly represented in the nonfiction books featured in our reviews pages. Sixty-one percent of adult nonfiction books were written by male authors, compared to 39% by female authors. In fiction, it was almost the exact opposite, with 62% of the books written by female authors and just 38% by male authors.
Category: Local news
