We reached out to some of our industry friends for their thoughts on the key developments in the book market in 2017. .
- 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:
“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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“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.”
The Fearless Storyteller House Emporium Ltd.
3. Physical bookstores will continue to decline.
Bennett Coles, publisher at Promontory Press gave us his predictions for 2017:
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“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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