5 Book Industry Predictions for 2017

BooksGoSocial

We reached out to some of our industry friends for their thoughts on the key developments in the book market in  2017. .

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  1. Author Earnings estimates Amazon’s ebook sales grew by 4 percent in 2016. Traditional publishers are losing ebook market share to the non-traditional market of indie authors, small presses, and Amazon’s own house imprints.

 

Here is what one of our industry friends thinks about this development:

 

twilight time“Since November 2007, when Amazon.com introduced the Kindle, ebooks have taken a larger share of the book market each year. Some studies indicate the U.S. ebook market will exceed the size of the print book market in 2017. Publishers as well as Indie authors will need to be alert to new markets, new ebook reader devices, new ebook formats, new developments in technology, etc.

Several of today’s established small press publishing houses started as epublishers in 1998-2000. At that time we knew ebooks were the wave of the future. We had no idea it would require almost ten years for ebooks to take off.
For small presses and Indie authors who maintain high standards, have learned the business end of book publishing and who produce quality books, I feel the future is very bright indeed.”

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Lida E. Quillen, PublisherTwilight Times Books.

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2. More diversity:  African-American fiction gaining popularity, and most sales will be from indie authors and small presses.
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Here is what a small press from Africa thinks about this:

fearless“I feel there will be an explosion of work coming from certain areas that some would previously have thought of as ‘minority', not because of their numbers of GDP or anything like that – but because of their previously perceived roles in the industry. So, I'm referring to areas like Africa, Asia, etc. Over time, there has been a ‘quiet revolution of rebels', if you like … previously, people have been dissatisfied but quiet when told in effect, “Your stories aren't valid enough for a global audience to relate with”. 2017 is the year that many say, “I want to tell my own story and find my tribe whilst I'm at it.”

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The Fearless Storyteller House Emporium Ltd.

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3. Physical bookstores will continue to decline.

Bennett Coles, publisher at Promontory Press gave us his predictions for 2017:

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promontory press“I predict that ebook sales will remain at a steady percentage of overall book sales. I think they’ve found their “natural” portion of the marketplace. I predict that both Barnes & Noble and Chapters-Indigo (Canada’s major bookstore) will close 5% of their retail locations, and that Amazon’s retail bookstore presence will increase. I predict that there will be a few closures/buyouts of small presses, but in general the publishing world will remain stable.”

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Bennett Coles, Publisher, Promontory Press
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4. The Audiobook market will continue to grow.
Reagan Rothe, publisher at Black Rose Writing, gave us some feedback regarding audiobooks:
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black rose writing“At Black Rose Writing, we’ve increased our audio narrator partnerships, as our audio sales have picked up quite a bit in the last quarter. Several titles that we have available in audio format received some strong marketing on Amazon and KDP, which snowballed into increased audio sales. We expect our audio and eBook sales to continue to grow due to our main focus on cost-effective marketing campaigns that typically show better results versus print efforts. Reading a physical copy of a book is still essential to many readers, and I feel there is a nice balance for all types of book formats.”
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5. The trend of authors supporting other authors will rise.
Laurence O'Bryan gave his views on the state of the industry and what is coming in 2017:
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laurence“I expect author to author collaboration to be a key theme of 2017. With traditional publishers getting smarter in their marketing, using BookBub to sell the back lists at 99c being one example, indie authors need to look to their strengths. Collaboration is one of the most important strengths we have. The ability to change pricing, covers, descriptions and titles, when needed, is another.”
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Laurence O'Bryan, author and founder of BooksGoSocial.com.
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