Once again, digital audio sales show robust gains, with ebook sales largely holding steady in August. Adult sales in the US market show a rise of $22.7 million, with children’s and YA also moving upward.
Frankfurt’s First Conference on the Evolving Audio Market
At the debut edition of Frankfurt’s Audiobook Conference, experts from several markets presented data and trends on this growing segment of publishing.
A New ‘Barometer’ Checks Sales Conditions in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain
Together with Bookwire, CB, and the International Publishing Distribution Association, Rüdiger Wischenbart has created a new ‘European Ebook Barometer’ to track digital activity in four key markets.
Interview: Bookseller Marina Kameneva’s Outlook on Russian Publishing
Marina Kameneva, head of Russia’s largest bookstore chain, Moscow Books, on the number of bookstores, book sales, and readers in Russia today.
American Publishers Cite 3.6-Percent Rise in Trade Revenue, First Half of 2018
While audiobook sales grow, the AAP’s new report show children’s book sales struggling and declines in education and scholarly revenues.
Germany’s Bertelsmann Reports a Half-Year Decline at PRH; Dohle Messages Staff
‘Underlying operating revenue and profit numbers for Penguin Random House in US dollars have been stable year-over-year,’ Markus Dohle tells PRH staff, following the half-year report from Bertelsmann.
China’s Book Market in the First Half of 2018: Slower Growth, Rising Prices
As book prices rise and children’s books show new energy, the number of new titles on China’s bestseller lists has decreased, with older hits lingering on sales charts.
Publishers Association: How Rights Sales Factor Into the UK’s Book Industry Revenues
‘The share of income from rights has steadily increased from 72 percent in 2013 to 80 percent in 2016,’ says the UK’s Publishers Association, in a report released this summer.
New Warnings from Lithuania of Competition to Books: ‘Reading Is Being Replaced’
‘The main barriers to reading books in Lithuania are the lack of time and the lack of interest.’ In a handsomely forthright assessment, the Lithuanian Publishers Association looks at its challenges.
In a ‘Steady’ First Half, BookNet Canada Sees Audiobook Purchases Up
As the Association of American Publishers’ StatShot Annual is citing, BookNet Canada’s English-language market sees online retail edging up on physical-store retail, though print is flat in the first six months of 2018.