The mass-migration to digital books continued in 2012, as sales of printed books fell by £74 million, according to Nielsen BookScan. It was only wildfire sales of EL James’ Fifty Shades trilogy which slowed the rate of decline to 4.6% over 2011 sales of printed books.
Meanwhile, e-books accounted for nearly 14% of book sales.
This is an increase of about 5% from 2011 but signals a clear trend: while sales of e-books continue to rise, the industry is not seeing a corresponding increase in revenue as many digital titles are sold at reduced prices.
Philip Stone from Bookseller said figures from Nielsen/Kantar show: “In essence, people are buying more books but they are paying less for them.”
Read more: Sales of printed books slump in 2012