US sales of e-books jumped 163% to $313 million for the year ending April 30, 2011, according to the Association of American Publishers, while US sales of hardcover books for grown-ups dropped 19% to $300 million. Come October, look for the e-blowout.
Harry Potter is scheduled to become e-book history in October when JK Rowling releases digital versions of all her titles in multiple languages and on her own. No publishers. No middlemen. Nothing but online 'Pottermore' content, including extra material not found in the books.
You can just hear the bookstores shudder, probably before they shutter. For all the celebrity tell-alls, cookbooks, romance novels, and lots of bad teenage vampire pablam, the one series that shot bookstore sales through the roof was Harry Potter. The only booksellers dancing in the aisles are likely to be Amazon.com, with its Kindle, and Barnes & Noble, with its Nook. Apple had no comment, but it'll likely do a jig, too, after seeing its iPotter sales.
Bookstores can always retaliate and not carry Potter, but the billionairess author likely could care less. The target audience for her novels remain tweeners and teens, and guess which age groups grew up with digital content and likely call bookstores by another name...antique shops?
According to the Wall Street Journal, publishers remain adamant they will not offer contracts without acquiring digital rights. But their average royalties of 25% of net sales leaves many authors looking at digital publishing alternatives where 50% to 75% are more prevalent. With more digital editions, it's not just bookstores that are being herded onto the endangered species list, publishers themselves face increasing pressure of becoming irrelevant.
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