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Readers adopted fiction ebooks quicker than non-fiction: Non-fiction ebook market has room to grow

2016-07-18

Book market statistics provided by publishing organizations are often quoted as the only authoritative numbers that reflect what is going on in the book trade. Many industry analysts have disagreed with these “official” numbers for years saying that they only represent a portion of the market: sales of big publishers. Especially, the emergence of digital books has brought a huge number of small publishers and self-publishers whose book sales is not tallied up in the statistics published by, for instance, AAP, Nielsen, or publishers’ associations in Europe.

An analyst who calls himself Data Guy (at Author Earnings) has discovered a way to collect data from ebook sales independent of which organization (or person) has published the title. He has created a system for extracting data from Amazon Kindle Store web pages. Therefore, all the statistics he can provide is from the US. Nonetheless, it is useful reference for ebook authors and publishers across the world because the US is the pioneer and the leading country in ebook business.

In July 2016, Data Guy gave a speech where he presented statistics specifically concerning romance literature ebook market in the US. The included data, however, has many valuable lessons for all authors and ebook publishers. Here are a few highlights from his speech.

author earnings: Slide07 july 2016

Source: Author Earnings.

In the US, non-fiction books has slightly over 50% of the print book market, and fiction slightly under 50%. In many European and Asian countries, non-fiction books have way larger market share from the print market. For instance, in Finland non-fiction print books had 35%, text books 35%, fiction 26%, and ebooks less than 4% market share in 2015.

Now, Author Earnings reports that non-fiction ebooks have only 12% market share in the US ebook market. Fiction dominates the ebook market with 88% share, and roughly half of purchased fiction is romance. Although we haven’t seen the ebook market in Europe segmented by genre, we believe the overall situation is roughly the same: non-fiction ebooks haven’t been adopted as quickly as fiction.

Yet, the potential to introduce something new to new generations of readers is in non-fiction and text books: digital media lets authors and publishers embed more attractive images, animation, photo galleries, interactivity and even moving pictures in books. You can view samples of this in Klaava Travel Guide titles.

author earnings, Slide12, july 2016

Source: Author Earnings

In the US, Amazon really dominates the ebook retail sales with 75% of title purchases going through the Kindle Store. Amazon UK has similar, some claim even stronger position, of the national ebook market, but elsewehere in Europe, other stores compete successfully with Amazon. For instance, in Germany Tolino is a major player in the ebook market. In Scandinavia, Adlibris and Storytel are big digital retailers (there is no Amazon store in Scandinavia yet, but Nordic citizens buy from Amazon.com if they want Kindle products).

It is still early days for digital books. The market developed quickly in English-speaking countries, primarily because of romance and crime titles. Fiction ebooks are replicas of print books. The big technical development is still to happen, and non-fiction and text books will drive the development. For instance, Amazon Page Flip is one of the early signs of things to come. It is a marvellous new feature for browsing non-fiction books.

Non-fiction book tips for reading and giving as gifts during the year-end holidays

2015-12-10

Goodreads is popular community of book lovers who actively discuss about books. Community members have voted the best books of 2015, just in time for getting tips for what to read and what to give as a gift during the year-end holidays.

Here are ten most popular non-fiction books as voted by the Goodreads community.
book cover aziz ansari, modern romance

1. Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari, Eric Klinenberg.
2. Humans of New York: Stories by Brandon Stanton. Photography.
3. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert. Creativity, inspiration.
4. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Society.
5. H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. Memoir.
6. Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer. Society,
7. Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship by Robert Kurson. Travel story.
8. So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson.
9. For the Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards. Religion.
10. Rising Strong by Brené Brown. Personal development.

If you are planning to travel during the holiday season on next year, download one of these travel guidebooks. More smart books to read here.

This is why Table of Contents is so important part of a nonfiction book proposal

2015-08-10

So you have the world’s greatest idea for a book? It is not an idea for a novel, but a concept for a nonfiction book that will make your own and the rest of humankind’s lives better. Excellent. Publishers are listening to ideas like yours. Pretty soon, however, publishers will request a table of contents for the book from the author. Here is why it is so important.

Apple iPad, ebook, eyeglasses, books,
If you have looked at book proposal forms that big publishers want authors to fill in, you have noticed that they require plenty of information. At some stage during a book project, all that information may become useful, but in the early stages, it is really three key points that matter when drafting a book proposal:

1. Theme of the book.
2. Target audience.
3. Table of contents.

First, you have to be able to explain why your book idea is so compelling that it must be written, published and marketed. A short argument that is easy to understand is usually better than one that requires long explanation.

Second, the first thing that writers learn at a writing course is that you should always write to a predefined target audience. Once you have managed to narrow down your target audience, it actually makes writing easier. It is time well spent when planning a book.

Third, table of contents (TOC) tells a publisher many things:

  • What the book really is all about. Exciting ideas are appreciated, but a TOC really has to nail down the essence of the book.
  • The scope of the planned book. The author always has to draw the line somewhere – everything about a topic can’t be included in a book.
  • The focus of the book. The TOC has to reflect the key themes of the planned book.
  • Headings indicate author’s style. If the headings and structure resemble a scientific paper, it is likely that the outcome will be scientific as well. If the headings are smart and witty, the chances are higher of getting a manuscript that features creative writing.
  •  
    So, if you have been brainstorming ideas for a book, but you are not sure which one will stick, draft a table of contents for each one. If you can create a credible TOC that looks like something people would want to read about, you may have something that’s worth pursuing.

    Amazon Kindle ereader on PC keyboard

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