8 : The Global eBook Market: Current Conditions & Future Projections The AAP reported that in November 2011, ebook sales constituted 16 percent of trade sales, up from 12.6 percent in October 2011 (Publishers Lunch, February 1, 2012). At the same time, Amazon announced in their fourth-quarter 2011 results that print books experienced double-digit growth in 2011 (as mentioned earlier, Amazon expanded their market share after the downfall of Borders) and that there was “very strong growth in digital media, from books to video to music” (Publishers Lunch, February 1, 2012). Both announcements under- line not only how ebooks continue to expand their impact on the American book market but also, more important, the structural shift of the market. Notably, Amazon can now expand its grip on both the print and digital side of the market, with the digital market further driven by the runaway success of its Kindle Fire tablet device. The popularity of ebooks was demonstrated by impressive growth rates. According to a survey by the AAP and the BISG, the total share of ebooks in the trade market rocketed from 0.6 percent in 2008 to 6.4 percent in 2010. Although that number represented a small amount of the total market for all formats, it translated to total net revenue for 2010 of $878 million from 114 million units sold. From October 2010 through the 2010 holiday season into early 2011, ebook sales exploded month by month. In adult ction, ebooks accounted for 13.6 percent of the net revenue market share in 2010 (AAP/BISG, data for 2010 AAP February 2011 sales report). According to PW, sales of printed books dropped in the rst half of 2011 by 10.2 percent compared to the same period in 2010, to 307.1 million units, mostly due to ebook purchases but also to reluctant consumers. Adult ction was hit hardest, with a decrease of 25.7 percent versus the same period in 2010, according to Nielsen data. Non ction decreased by only 2.7 percent. Mass-market paperbacks showed a decrease of 26.6 percent by sold units, with the most popular genres— argued that they “did not act illegally” and therefore declined to settle (John Sargent, Macmillan, quoted in Publishers Lunch, April 11, 2012). The settlement between HarperCollins, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and the DoJ was approved September 7, 2012, more swiftly than had been expected (PW, September 7, 2012). The settlement almost instantly resulted in publishers reconsidering their pricing policies and renegotiating their agreements with many of their ebook retailers, including Amazon. (See the discussion of HarperCollins in Publishers Lunch, September 11, 2012 for a detailed overview of all related lawsuits, see Publishers Marketplace, September 8, 2012 for an initial assessment of the agreement on pricing policies, see PaidContent, September 11, 2012). At the same time, and for the rst time in years, the growth curve for ebook sales seemed to atten out over the summer of 2012, hinting that “the revolution has reached an evolutionary stage,” according to Mike Shatzkin (The Shatzkin Files, August 13, 2012). Earlier Developments (through 2011) Between December 2011 and January 2012, the number of Americans owning either a tablet computer or an ereader jumped from 18 to 29 percent the proportion of those owning a tablet increasing to 19 percent, as did those owning an ereader, according to a study released by PewInternet (January 23, 2012). A similar surge in the presence of ebooks was reported by USA Today the week after Christmas, for 42 of the top 50 bestselling titles, the ebook edition was the most popular format (USA Today, January 9, 2012). Publishers Weekly reported that, overall, the combination of sales from both printed and digital books was up according to Nielsen BookScan, print book sales for all of 2011 fell 9 percent (correspondence from PW for this survey The Bookseller, January 11, 2012). No nal numbers on 2011 ebook sales were available at the time of this update. .