US online sales up 5.6% 

In the US, a report from Bookstat found online sales of print books, ebooks and audiobooks grew 5.6% to US$12.13 billion (A$17.7b) in 2022, reports Publishers Weekly.

Bookstat covers an estimated 93% of all US ebook sales, 95% of audiobook sales, and 93% of online print book sales, including real time data collection from Amazon, Apple and Barnes & Noble.

The audiobook format was the biggest mover in 2022, with sales growing 22% compared to 2021 to US$3.04 billion (A$4.4b). Ebook sales increased 6% to US$2.57 billion (A$3.7b) while online print sales fell 0.6% to $US6.52 billion (A$9.5b).

Ebooks were the most popular format by units sold, with 526 million titles sold—an increase of 8%. Self-published titles, which often sell at a low price, accounted for 51% of all ebook unit sales and 34% of ebook revenue in 2022. Self-published titles generated around US$874 (A$1.3b) million in ebook sales in 2022.

Bookstat evolved from founder and CEO Paul Abbassi’s Author Earnings Report, which began as an ebook sales data tracking company. Abbassi sold the service to Podium Audio last year and remains head of the company.

Category: International news