eBooks gain traction over 2012

The figures for 2012 are in, and Digital Book World analyses them

eBooks made big gains, according to the Association of American Publishers.

Digital books accounted for nearly 23% of publisher net revenues in 2012, up from 17% in 2011 and, astoundingly, 1% in 2008. Ten years ago, in 2002, the first year that the AAP measured the size of the ebook market, revenues from digital book sales accounted for 0.05% of the overall take.

That's quite a revolution.

For adult fiction and nonfiction, ebooks were up to nearly $1.3 billion in revenue, a 33% gain from the previous year. While the overall size of the market is impressive and dwarfs the entire publishing business in all but a few of the largest economies worldwide, growth has slowed to an earthly rate compared to the otherworldly numbers posted in previous years.

Children’s ebooks were up 120% in 2012 to $233 million, driven by huge gains in the beginning of the year, perhaps due in part to the success of titles like The Hunger Games. Religious ebooks closed out the year up 20% to $57 million, a disappointing finish to what had been a red-hot start.

Between the three categories measured in the AAP’s monthly reports, ebooks were up to $1.54 billion, an increase of 41%.