No Roof in Sight: November E-Book Sales Double 2007 Tally

Trade eBook sales hit $5,100,000 for November 2008, a whopping 108.3% increase over November 2007, according to Michael Smith, Executive Director of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). Smith cited stats gathered by the Association of American Publishers. Calendar Year to Date Revenue is also up a robust 63.8%.

The figures obviously reflect a Kindle boost, but what is even more encouraging is that in a month in which pre-holiday print book sales slumped miserably, e-books flew high.

Just a reminder that:

* These are wholesale revenues reported from 13 participating Trade Publishers
* This data represents United States revenues only
* This data represents only trade e-book sales via wholesale channels. Retail numbers may be as much as double the above figures due to industry wholesale discounts.
* This data represents only data submitted from approx. 12 to 15 trade publishers
* This data does not include library, educational or professional electronic sales
* The numbers reflect the wholesale revenues of publishers
* The definition used for reporting electronic book sales is "All books delivered electronically over the Internet OR to hand-held reading devices"
* The IDPF and AAP began collecting data together starting in Q1 2006

The stats we're all waiting for are December, when we'll know just how e-book sales fared against book-books during the gloomy holiday season.

RC