Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "statistics"
Notes from The Literary Consultancy's conference 2013 - Writing in a Digital Age: Statistics
At The Literary Consultancy's recent conference, Writing in a Digital Age, there was a panel of experts looking back at the past year and developments in publishing. The panel included Steve Bohme of Bowker Market Research. He presented some very interesting statistics about how and why people buy books and e-books.
From interviews with the book buying public, Bowker has discovered the following:
1 in 8 books purchased in 2012 in the UK were e-books and this trend seems to be on the rise.
The figure changes to 1 in 6 of those were purchased for 'own' reading, which shows that when people buy as gifts it's more usual to buy the paperback or hardback copy.
In percentage terms, 13% of all books sold in the UK in 2012 were e-books, and in some genres it was higher. For example, for romance, crime, classic fiction, and true crime it was 20%.
The type of market where e-books have made little or no impact have so far been illustrated books, which only made up between 0-5% of the market.
So far it has been straight text e-books that have been gaining popularity.
Self published books
2% of all 3 million books (all formats) sold in the UK in 2012 were self-published. The figure is higher for fiction books, and hardly any children's books.
Of all e-books sold in 2012 in the UK, 1 in 8 were self-published (for adult fiction the figure is higher: 1 in 7).
Certain genres were more significant: Crime, sci-fi, fantasy, romance, humour.
Interesting statistics were them given as to how people discover books. The most popular ways were:
1. Familiarity with the author
2. Browsing in shops
3. Word of mouth
4. Request e.g. in a shop or library
5. Browse online (half as much as in shops)
For e-books, it is slightly different:
1. Repeat purchase from same author
2. Browsing online
3. Word of mouth (1 in 9)
4. Seen book on bestseller list
5. Read book before (so for example someone may have already read the paperback and then goes on to buy an e-book copy)
For self-published e-books, here's how they're discovered:
1. Browsing online
2. Have read another book by the same author
3. Recommendation/review - online
4. The book is in a bestseller list
5. Word of mouth
From these statistics, it was concluded that social media itself is not a massive driver... unless of course a recommendation of the book is seen on a networking site like Twitter or Facebook.
The initial data that Bowker has for 2013 seems to indicate that 7% of books sales may be influenced by following an author on social media.
When asked where people first saw a book, the answers for all books were that the reader was browsing for a book in particular. But for self-published books it was that a book was recommended, or they were browsing by subject.
When trying to find out why people buy a book, the results were as follows:
The determining factors for all books were:
1. Subject
2. Author
3. Price
4. The book is part of a series
5. Blurb
6. Gift
7. Because of a review
For e-books it is similar to the above, although another determining factor will be that the reader has read an extract from the book.
For self-published books, the order of priority changes when people were asked why they buy a book:
1. Price
2. Blurb
3. Subject
4. Extract
5. Author
6. Series
7. Review/Recommendation
So this seems to indicate that if a self-published book is cheap enough it will sell.
Pricing statistics for self-published e-books was then discussed. The results of the survey show that if a book is priced £2 or over it needs more promotion if it is to sell. The most popular price for e-books was just under £2.
Other statistics were that most book buyers are females, and it is older females who are more likely to buy self-published books, as they are the most avid readers.
For self-published books 3 in 5 are bought by people who read every day.
These statistics are perhaps not surprising to those who are involved in publishing, especially self-published writers, but they definitely give food for thought.
As publishers, whether traditional or self-published, it is important to know what type of things drive potential sales so that we can build a marketing strategy around that.
I'll be posting some more notes from this interesting conference soon.
From interviews with the book buying public, Bowker has discovered the following:
1 in 8 books purchased in 2012 in the UK were e-books and this trend seems to be on the rise.
The figure changes to 1 in 6 of those were purchased for 'own' reading, which shows that when people buy as gifts it's more usual to buy the paperback or hardback copy.
In percentage terms, 13% of all books sold in the UK in 2012 were e-books, and in some genres it was higher. For example, for romance, crime, classic fiction, and true crime it was 20%.
The type of market where e-books have made little or no impact have so far been illustrated books, which only made up between 0-5% of the market.
So far it has been straight text e-books that have been gaining popularity.
Self published books
2% of all 3 million books (all formats) sold in the UK in 2012 were self-published. The figure is higher for fiction books, and hardly any children's books.
Of all e-books sold in 2012 in the UK, 1 in 8 were self-published (for adult fiction the figure is higher: 1 in 7).
Certain genres were more significant: Crime, sci-fi, fantasy, romance, humour.
Interesting statistics were them given as to how people discover books. The most popular ways were:
1. Familiarity with the author
2. Browsing in shops
3. Word of mouth
4. Request e.g. in a shop or library
5. Browse online (half as much as in shops)
For e-books, it is slightly different:
1. Repeat purchase from same author
2. Browsing online
3. Word of mouth (1 in 9)
4. Seen book on bestseller list
5. Read book before (so for example someone may have already read the paperback and then goes on to buy an e-book copy)
For self-published e-books, here's how they're discovered:
1. Browsing online
2. Have read another book by the same author
3. Recommendation/review - online
4. The book is in a bestseller list
5. Word of mouth
From these statistics, it was concluded that social media itself is not a massive driver... unless of course a recommendation of the book is seen on a networking site like Twitter or Facebook.
The initial data that Bowker has for 2013 seems to indicate that 7% of books sales may be influenced by following an author on social media.
When asked where people first saw a book, the answers for all books were that the reader was browsing for a book in particular. But for self-published books it was that a book was recommended, or they were browsing by subject.
When trying to find out why people buy a book, the results were as follows:
The determining factors for all books were:
1. Subject
2. Author
3. Price
4. The book is part of a series
5. Blurb
6. Gift
7. Because of a review
For e-books it is similar to the above, although another determining factor will be that the reader has read an extract from the book.
For self-published books, the order of priority changes when people were asked why they buy a book:
1. Price
2. Blurb
3. Subject
4. Extract
5. Author
6. Series
7. Review/Recommendation
So this seems to indicate that if a self-published book is cheap enough it will sell.
Pricing statistics for self-published e-books was then discussed. The results of the survey show that if a book is priced £2 or over it needs more promotion if it is to sell. The most popular price for e-books was just under £2.
Other statistics were that most book buyers are females, and it is older females who are more likely to buy self-published books, as they are the most avid readers.
For self-published books 3 in 5 are bought by people who read every day.
These statistics are perhaps not surprising to those who are involved in publishing, especially self-published writers, but they definitely give food for thought.
As publishers, whether traditional or self-published, it is important to know what type of things drive potential sales so that we can build a marketing strategy around that.
I'll be posting some more notes from this interesting conference soon.
TLC's Writers' Conference 2014 - A look at the past 12 months in the publishing industry
At the recent TLC writers' conference there was an interesting discussion chaired by Claire Armitstead of The Guardian about the changes that have occurred in the past 12 months in the book publishing world and a few predictions for the coming year.
Steve Bohme from Nielsen Book started the discussion by providing some figures about books sales and current trends. The information was taken from Book Scan data, which is the long-scale tracking of print book sales. He confirmed that Nielsen will shortly be introducing this for eBooks. Information was also provided by reference to customer surveys about book-buying habits.
Here are some of the results from 2013 (based on UK data):
1. In the UK in 2013 323 million books were bought. The book sales market is stable. There was a 4% decrease in sales overall compared to the previous year, but it's believed that was due to the phenomenal success of 'Fifty Shades' in 2012 boosting sales for that year.
2. There was a decrease of 10% in the amount of printed books bought in 2013 but an increase of 20% in the purchase of eBooks. There is a definite shift in book buying habits from print to digital.
3. Interestingly, there was a 79% increase in purchases of self-published books. In 2013 18 million self-published books were bought. This is a fast growing part of the market.
4. 5% of all books bought last year were self-published (it was pointed out, however, that it is sometimes difficult to track self-published books).
So what types of books are people buying?
Top genres for UK fiction in 2013 were Thrillers overall, whether print, eBook, or self-published.
Overall, the top three genres were: Thrillers, Biography, General Fiction
The least popular overall were Romance, Historical fiction, and Food & Drink
However, things change slightly when you look at just eBooks. The top three popular eBook genres were: Thrillers, General Fiction, and Crime, with the least popular being Erotica, Children's books, Classic literature
There are different results if you just look at the most popular self-published books. Top three: Thrillers, Romance, Crime. The least popular for self-published fiction: Historical fiction, Horror/Ghost stories, Erotica.
How much are people paying for books?
Self-published books have lower prices on average between £3 and £3.99.
eBooks are mostly priced up to £5.99.
Most of the self-published eBooks are priced at around £2.
Most commonly eBooks are being bought for about £1, so probably when there are special deals on Amazon, but there are also quite a lot being bought for between £5 and £5.99.
Discovery of Books - 2013
How do people discover the books they choose to buy?
The most popular way overall is that they have read another book by that author or the book they buy is part of a series. The second most popular is by browsing in a bricks and mortar bookstore. Browsing online comes in third.
Looking at the data for only eBooks (both traditionally published and self-published), the most popular way is the same i.e. the reader has already read another book by the author or the book is part of a series. The second most popular way is browsing online, and interestingly, the third is 'following' the author on social networking sites e.g. Twitter. This shows the importance of authors building a following online.
When you look at how most self-published books are discovered, the most popular way is by readers browsing online. So online presence is very important for self-published authors and their books.
Other popular ways people are discovering books by self-published authors are by recommendations, following the author e.g. on Twitter, and by an advert or book trailer.
Browsing habits and discovery of books
For print books the most popular way people end up buying them is by searching for a specific book.
For eBooks, people browse by author.
For self-published books, people browse the recommendation sections and browse by subject/genre.
The fastest growth in browsing trends is people looking at the offer sections for the best deals in self-published books.
The data shows that planned purchases are less likely for self-published books, the most common factors for someone making the decision to purchase a particular self-published book will be the description, the author, the price.
The fastest growth is in readers becoming more familiar with some self-published authors and going on to purchase another of that author's books.
What influences the decision to buy a book?
Overall the three most popular factors will be 1. Author, 2. Subject, 3. Price
Other factors include, the book being part of a series, the blurb, characters, gift appeal.
For eBooks the findings are the same, except that eBooks are not working as gifts at the moment. Instead another influencing factor there might be the extract that is available online.
For self-published books the top 3 influencing factors are: 1. Price, 2. Blurb, 3. Subject.
Other influencing factors for self-published sales are: the book is part of a series, the reader is familiar with the author, extract available online, characters.
One major growth area is the trend for people buying more book series.
Who is buying books?
Buyer demographic for UK 2013:
60% - female
40% - male
Females over the age of 45 make up 25% of the book buyers.
Looking at the figures for self-published books alone, this changes. 70% of those buying self-published books are females and 32% are over 45.
52% of the buyers of self-published books are heavy readers, those who read lots of books, and they're most likely to try books by less well-known authors.
----------------------
The panel members for the discussion were invited to talk about how the industry has changed in the past 12 months.
James Gill, from United Agents said he thought the past 12 months were characterised by a narrowing of market channels. He thinks that more well-known authors can do well, better than they could have ten years ago, but less well-known authors will do worse than they could have ten years ago.
Stephen Page CEO of Faber & Faber, says the business of publishing is changing and the author has more choices. Self-publishing is a real option.
He says that for the past 20 years the publishing industry was trade-focussed, but this has been changed by the Internet. Now, it's a more customer-focussed industry.
He says that the obscurity factor is the biggest problem for self-published authors. Publishers can help with this because they are skilled in search engine optimisation, packaging, producing multiple formats, creating value to help sell books.
He says that Faber are still investing in authors and pay three million in advances per year.
Diego Marano of Kobo Writing Life said that because of the changes in technology an author/creator can deal directly with consumers and produce a book as good as a trade-published book. The key word is flexibility. He says, publishers wanted to do what they've always done, but that's no longer possible as things are changing. The business should be ready to embrace flexibility.
Some other interesting highlights from the discussion were:
1. Stephen Page wondered whether this is the greatest revolution in the industry since the printing press.
2. Publishers are changing the services they offer. For example, Faber launched a creative writing school 5-6 years ago as a service to writers. He thinks publishers now need to offer more.
3. Self-published books are getting more recognition in the media. For example, The Guardian launched the self-published book of the month.
4. Stephen Page said that the high street trade for publishers doesn't exist anymore, not as it did 20-30 years ago. Some areas of publishing are under threat.
5. Growth over the past year has been seen predominantly in self-published books.
6. Books are now being created in many different formats including as apps.
7. Agents and publishers want books to be commercial. Most 'literary' fiction only sells small numbers unless a book wins a major prize, like the Man Booker Prize and then can sell hundreds of thousands of copies overnight.
8. Traditional publishers are still taking months or years to provide authors with sales data, whereas with self-published books Amazon sales can be seen almost immediately.
-----------------------------
To sum up, the main concerns raised by those on the panel are of a dying high street book market and perhaps technology going too far and changing books into apps and videos rather than written word. On the bright side, there hasn't been a decline in book sales in the UK, people are still reading. A shift from print to digital can be clearly seen, with more recognition for self-published writers.
Steve Bohme from Nielsen Book started the discussion by providing some figures about books sales and current trends. The information was taken from Book Scan data, which is the long-scale tracking of print book sales. He confirmed that Nielsen will shortly be introducing this for eBooks. Information was also provided by reference to customer surveys about book-buying habits.
Here are some of the results from 2013 (based on UK data):
1. In the UK in 2013 323 million books were bought. The book sales market is stable. There was a 4% decrease in sales overall compared to the previous year, but it's believed that was due to the phenomenal success of 'Fifty Shades' in 2012 boosting sales for that year.
2. There was a decrease of 10% in the amount of printed books bought in 2013 but an increase of 20% in the purchase of eBooks. There is a definite shift in book buying habits from print to digital.
3. Interestingly, there was a 79% increase in purchases of self-published books. In 2013 18 million self-published books were bought. This is a fast growing part of the market.
4. 5% of all books bought last year were self-published (it was pointed out, however, that it is sometimes difficult to track self-published books).
So what types of books are people buying?
Top genres for UK fiction in 2013 were Thrillers overall, whether print, eBook, or self-published.
Overall, the top three genres were: Thrillers, Biography, General Fiction
The least popular overall were Romance, Historical fiction, and Food & Drink
However, things change slightly when you look at just eBooks. The top three popular eBook genres were: Thrillers, General Fiction, and Crime, with the least popular being Erotica, Children's books, Classic literature
There are different results if you just look at the most popular self-published books. Top three: Thrillers, Romance, Crime. The least popular for self-published fiction: Historical fiction, Horror/Ghost stories, Erotica.
How much are people paying for books?
Self-published books have lower prices on average between £3 and £3.99.
eBooks are mostly priced up to £5.99.
Most of the self-published eBooks are priced at around £2.
Most commonly eBooks are being bought for about £1, so probably when there are special deals on Amazon, but there are also quite a lot being bought for between £5 and £5.99.
Discovery of Books - 2013
How do people discover the books they choose to buy?
The most popular way overall is that they have read another book by that author or the book they buy is part of a series. The second most popular is by browsing in a bricks and mortar bookstore. Browsing online comes in third.
Looking at the data for only eBooks (both traditionally published and self-published), the most popular way is the same i.e. the reader has already read another book by the author or the book is part of a series. The second most popular way is browsing online, and interestingly, the third is 'following' the author on social networking sites e.g. Twitter. This shows the importance of authors building a following online.
When you look at how most self-published books are discovered, the most popular way is by readers browsing online. So online presence is very important for self-published authors and their books.
Other popular ways people are discovering books by self-published authors are by recommendations, following the author e.g. on Twitter, and by an advert or book trailer.
Browsing habits and discovery of books
For print books the most popular way people end up buying them is by searching for a specific book.
For eBooks, people browse by author.
For self-published books, people browse the recommendation sections and browse by subject/genre.
The fastest growth in browsing trends is people looking at the offer sections for the best deals in self-published books.
The data shows that planned purchases are less likely for self-published books, the most common factors for someone making the decision to purchase a particular self-published book will be the description, the author, the price.
The fastest growth is in readers becoming more familiar with some self-published authors and going on to purchase another of that author's books.
What influences the decision to buy a book?
Overall the three most popular factors will be 1. Author, 2. Subject, 3. Price
Other factors include, the book being part of a series, the blurb, characters, gift appeal.
For eBooks the findings are the same, except that eBooks are not working as gifts at the moment. Instead another influencing factor there might be the extract that is available online.
For self-published books the top 3 influencing factors are: 1. Price, 2. Blurb, 3. Subject.
Other influencing factors for self-published sales are: the book is part of a series, the reader is familiar with the author, extract available online, characters.
One major growth area is the trend for people buying more book series.
Who is buying books?
Buyer demographic for UK 2013:
60% - female
40% - male
Females over the age of 45 make up 25% of the book buyers.
Looking at the figures for self-published books alone, this changes. 70% of those buying self-published books are females and 32% are over 45.
52% of the buyers of self-published books are heavy readers, those who read lots of books, and they're most likely to try books by less well-known authors.
----------------------
The panel members for the discussion were invited to talk about how the industry has changed in the past 12 months.
James Gill, from United Agents said he thought the past 12 months were characterised by a narrowing of market channels. He thinks that more well-known authors can do well, better than they could have ten years ago, but less well-known authors will do worse than they could have ten years ago.
Stephen Page CEO of Faber & Faber, says the business of publishing is changing and the author has more choices. Self-publishing is a real option.
He says that for the past 20 years the publishing industry was trade-focussed, but this has been changed by the Internet. Now, it's a more customer-focussed industry.
He says that the obscurity factor is the biggest problem for self-published authors. Publishers can help with this because they are skilled in search engine optimisation, packaging, producing multiple formats, creating value to help sell books.
He says that Faber are still investing in authors and pay three million in advances per year.
Diego Marano of Kobo Writing Life said that because of the changes in technology an author/creator can deal directly with consumers and produce a book as good as a trade-published book. The key word is flexibility. He says, publishers wanted to do what they've always done, but that's no longer possible as things are changing. The business should be ready to embrace flexibility.
Some other interesting highlights from the discussion were:
1. Stephen Page wondered whether this is the greatest revolution in the industry since the printing press.
2. Publishers are changing the services they offer. For example, Faber launched a creative writing school 5-6 years ago as a service to writers. He thinks publishers now need to offer more.
3. Self-published books are getting more recognition in the media. For example, The Guardian launched the self-published book of the month.
4. Stephen Page said that the high street trade for publishers doesn't exist anymore, not as it did 20-30 years ago. Some areas of publishing are under threat.
5. Growth over the past year has been seen predominantly in self-published books.
6. Books are now being created in many different formats including as apps.
7. Agents and publishers want books to be commercial. Most 'literary' fiction only sells small numbers unless a book wins a major prize, like the Man Booker Prize and then can sell hundreds of thousands of copies overnight.
8. Traditional publishers are still taking months or years to provide authors with sales data, whereas with self-published books Amazon sales can be seen almost immediately.
-----------------------------
To sum up, the main concerns raised by those on the panel are of a dying high street book market and perhaps technology going too far and changing books into apps and videos rather than written word. On the bright side, there hasn't been a decline in book sales in the UK, people are still reading. A shift from print to digital can be clearly seen, with more recognition for self-published writers.
