A June 2018 report out from the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society found author earnings have dipped by 42% over the last ten years.Pexels.com
HarperCollins reported $490 million in sales for the last quarter on Thursday, up $83 million from the same quarter in 2017, partially due to rising digital audiobook and ebook sales. It’s just the latest confirmation that traditional book publishers are doing well for themselves: The Publishers Association recently found the UK publishing industry’s £5.7 billion in book sales income to be up 5% over the year prior.
Granted, the publishing industry’s success isn’t anywhere near stratospheric: Across the U.S. industry, net revenue totalled $26.23 billion in 2017, down a smidge from 2016’s $26.27 billion. Overall, revenues appear to be holding steady, as traditional publishers double down on the latest trend or format (which are political tell-alls and digital audiobooks, respectively, if anyone’s wondering). It’s also worth noting that the traditional industry’s numbers don’t represent the entire book-publishing world: In the famously murky world of book statistics, there’s little data available on self-published authors and their sales. As much as 80% of online dollars spent on ebooks likely go to Amazon, by one data watchdog’s 2017 report.
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