Examining the dramatic changes in the ebook business over the last year and how authors and publishers can benefit from these changes. A presentation from Brendon J. Wilson given at BookCamp Vancouver, October 1st 2010.
5. Feature Experimentation Wi-Fi versus 3G Screen quality Battery life External storage Single/Multi-purpose Applications Social features 10/01/2010 The State of the Electronic Book 2010 @brendonjwilson 5
7. Battle for Talent Conflict over rights Exclusive deals for superstar authors Greater revenue for indie authors 10/01/2010 The State of the Electronic Book 2010 @brendonjwilson 7
8. $259 $189 $139 $99? Race to the Bottom 10/01/2010 The State of the Electronic Book 2010 @brendonjwilson 8
9. Winner: Amazon…For Now Estimated market shares: Kindle: 43.3% Nook: 16.3% Sony: 13.8% Other: 26.6% Devices shipped: Kindle: 5M since 2007 Nook: 1M since last year Sony: 1.28M to date 10/01/2010 The State of the Electronic Book 2010 @brendonjwilson 9
10. The Bottom Line 10/01/2010 The State of the Electronic Book 2010 @brendonjwilson 10 US Trade Wholesale Electronic Book Sales
Three trends pervade this year’s trends and developments: Acceleration: Not only the adoption of ebooks, but proliferation of devices/applications, distribution channelsBalkanization: The camps are lining up between various ebook vendors, device manufacturers, books stores, and even authors/publishersExperimentation: New form factors, new features, new channels to market
Photo Source: Kobo QuickStart Guide (http://www.koboereader.com/pdf/Kobo_QuickStart.pdf)Room Poll: How many using mobile device as ereader?
Kindle at Target, Best Buy (http://sparxoo.com/2010/06/04/amazons-kindle-to-hit-target-stores-this-weekend/, http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20015931-93.html)iPad, nook at Best Buy (http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/04/12/best-buy-officially-selling-nook-reader/)Staples to sell Kindle, Borders cuts reader prices (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67U23V20100831)
Photo source: http://www.kruufm.com/node/6591Conflict over electronic rights; do existing contracts confer electronic rights to publishers or not?Steven Covey licenses exclusively to Amazon (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/technology/companies/15amazon.html?_r=1) Ian McEwan, others (http://gigaom.com/2010/02/08/more-authors-signing-exclusive-kindle-deals/) Andrew Wylie (http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2010/07/amazon_lands_exclusive_kindle_ebook_deal.html)Random House reverses exclusivity (http://www.geekwithlaptop.com/amazon-loses-exclusive-rights-to-sell-random-house-classics) Shifting economics: 35% for authors through Amazon DTP became 70%
Photo source: Kobo Kobo introduced at $149, dropped to $139 with Wi-Fi (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/09/kobo-updates-e-reader-with-wi-fi-price-drop/) B&N Nook for $199, $149 for Wi-Fi only version (http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/21/bn-confirms-new-149-nook-wi-fi-drops-3g-model-price-to-199/) Amazon Kindle 3 for $139 for Wi-Fi only version, $189 for GPS version (http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/28/new-amazon-kindle-announced-139-wifi-only-version-and-189-3g/)Aluratek “Libre” eBook Pro will be sold by Barnes & Noble for $99 (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67U23V20100831)Room Poll: How many own an ereader? How many bought in the past 6 months?37% of ebook buyers bought their first ebook in the first six months of 2010 (http://publishingperspectives.com/2010/05/e-book-sales-statistics-from-bisg-survey/)
Photo source: Amazon http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67U23V20100831 http://www.best-ereaders.com/2010/08/25/potential-sales-volume-of-ereaders-around-the-world/ Estimate of 11M ereader sales by year end (http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/04/26/nook-passes-kindle-sales-in-march/)
Source: IPDF ebook sales data for the 12 to 15 trade book publishers that provide data (http://www.openebook.org/doc_library/industrystats.htm) Quadrupling of sales January 2010 v. January 2009 E-Books went from 1.5% of US books sales in 2009 to 5% in Q1 2010 (http://publishingperspectives.com/2010/05/e-book-sales-statistics-from-bisg-survey/) Goldman Sachs in April predicted ebooksales would rise to about 15% of total book sales by 2015 from 3% this year (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67U23V20100831)