At Vearsa we review our publishers’ sales activity as a whole in order to glean some useful facts on trends in the eBook market.  We have over 350 publishers around the world so what we see each month can give us some actionable insights in this Mid-Year Review which will hopefully, with this key info impact on the bottom line!

Year to Date Trends

--Publisher earnings rose 7% in the period Jan-Apr 2015 compared to prior year.

--Sales volumes increased by almost 4.5%.

--The number of titles behind these sales numbers increased by 16% as publishers looked to back lists as well as new releases in order to increase content.

--We are seeing quiet healthy sales in France with earnings up 2.4% on last year. Although not a huge rise in revenues, this still reflects what is happening in France with regard to eBook readership as per the IPA article "France’s eBook Market: New Research into Buying and Reading Habits."

--Publishers have also got to grips with the range of eBook channels now available to them with the number of distribution networks delivering sales increasing by 67% year on year.

--Self-Help books continue to attract readers but it is worth noting that books that fall into the “Happiness” sub-category have seen an 89% improvement in sales revenue compared to last year. Perhaps the message of looking to the light is making itself heard!

Spotlight on April

--Sales revenues dropped in April compared to March, down 5%.

--But there are still some positives among the figures . . . the UK had a 1% rise in earnings while Scandinavian countries increased by 3%. And although South American sales are relatively low, they still saw a 16% increase on prior month.

--Sales in India (and this is for English language books only) have had a consistently strong run for the past four months with 5 out of the Top 10 best-sellers falling within the self-improvement area.

--Romance titles had an earnings increase of 14% with contemporary settings leading the way.

--April also saw increased sales for Fiction titles falling within the Contemporary Women and War & Military sub-categories.