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According to a report released by the Open
eBook Forum (read press
release), ebook sales have increased
substantially over the first half of the year. All
of the major publishers have enjoyed improved
sales figures, with many reporting increases of
over 50% on their figures for the same period last
year.
The report shows that public acceptance of the
ebook is now firmly established, though it still
represents a tiny share of the overall book
market. But Palm, who have recently decided to
distribute ebooks through two of the largest ebook
distributors, say they sold 180,000 ebooks last
year, representing an increase in sales of more
than 40% over the previous year.
The indications are that ebook publishing is
gradually developing a structure that is in many
ways similar to that of the conventional
publishing industry. As the number of authors
considering publishing their manuscripts as ebooks
has increased, the rejection rate by ebook
publishers using conventional quality assurance
procedures has also increased, or, to put it
another way, acceptance rates for manuscripts
probably average less than 10% for many ebook
publishers. Also, ebook publishers are beginning
to form associations, which will, in part, assist
member publishers to keep up with the rapid
changes occurring within the ebook industry.
Still, although there might still be some way
to go, the signs suggest that the ebook industry
is now firmly established and that its sales will
increase steadily over the next few years. The
most interesting thing about the report, however,
is that publishers are now confident enough to
actually talk about sales figures — and that is
a significant change in itself.
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