Best-Selling Ebooks Fetch Higher Prices

Both Digital Book World and Smashwords have come out with best-selling ebook lists this week. The majority of best-selling ebooks are published by traditional publishers: Random/Penguin, Hachette and Macmillan. But Penelope Ward's self-published book, Stepbrother Dearest, still holds third place.

Although Amazon maintains that keeping ebook prices low increases sales, these two charts seem to indicate that this is only true for self-published books. More than a third of this week’s overall top 25 titles cost more than $10, whereas self-published titles ranged from $2.99 to $4.99. Note that the majority of Smashwords' best-selling titles are romances.

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Digital Book World Daily, October 15, 2014

Top 25 Ebook Best-Sellers

Week Ending 10/11/14Sponsored by:

Rank*	Title	Author	Publisher	Price**	Change
1 (1)	Gone Girl: A Novel	Gillian Flynn	Penguin Random House	$    6.38	–
2 (n/a)	The Heroes of Olympus (The Blood of Olympus Book 5)	Rick Riordan	Hachette	$    8.99	New
3 (8)	The Best of Me	Nicholas Sparks	Hachette	$    5.99	+5
4 (2)	Stepbrother Dearest	Penelope Ward	Self-published	$    3.99	-2
5 (n/a)	Deadline (Virgil Flowers Book 8)	John Sandford	Penguin Random House	$   11.99	New
6 (6)	Burn (Michael Bennett Book 7)	Michael Ledwidge	Hachette	$    9.99	–
7 (3)	Outlander: A Novel	Diana Gabaldon	Penguin Random House	$    4.99	-4
8 (5)	Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II’s Most Audacious General	Martin Dugard	Macmillan	$    9.99	-3
9 (9)	The Maze Runner	James Dashner	Penguin Random House	$    5.80	–
10 (4)	Gray Mountain: A Novel	John Grisham	Penguin Random House	$   11.99	-6
11 (15)	Dark Places: A Novel	Gillian Flynn	Penguin Random House	$    4.99	+4
12 (7)	Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel	Lee Child	Penguin Random House	$   10.99	-5
13 (11)	Edge of Eternity (The Century Trilogy Book 3)	Ken Follett	Penguin Random House	$   11.99	-2
14 (10)	Captivated by You (Crossfire Book 4)	Sylvia Day	Penguin Random House	$    7.99	-4
15 (13)	The Complete Gillian Flynn: Gone Girl, Dark Places, Sharp Objects	Gillian Flynn	Penguin Random House	$   12.79	-2
16 (n/a)	Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s “Learned”	Lena Dunham	Penguin Random House	$   10.99	New
17 (14)	Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander Book 2)	Diana Gabaldon	Penguin Random House	$    4.99	-3
18 (17)	The Fault in Our Stars	John Green	Penguin Random House	$    7.40	-1
19 (12)	Big Little Lies	Liane Moriarty	Penguin Random House	$   10.99	-7
20 (n/a)	Leaving Time: A Novel	Jodi Picoult	Penguin Random House	$   11.84	New
21 (21)	A Good Marriage	Stephen King	Simon & Schuster	$    4.74	–
22 (19)	Orphan Train: A Novel	Christina Baker Kline	HarperCollins	$    6.99	-3
23 (n/a)	Voyager (Outlander Book 3)	Diana Gabaldon	Penguin Random House	$    4.99	New
24 (23)	If I Stay	Gayle Forman	Penguin Random House	$    4.99	-1
25 (18)	Mean Streak	Sandra Brown	Hachette	$   12.99	-7

Smashwords Bestseller List

Rank	Title	Author	ISBN	Genre	Price
1	All For This	Lexi Ryan	9781940832951	Romance	3.99
2	Fall To You	Lexi Ryan	9781940832944	Romance	3.99
3	Filthy Beautiful Lies	Kendall Ryan	9781311020567	Romance	3.99
4	Broken Silence	Natasha Preston	9781301920686	Romance	2.99
5	The Seduction 2	Roxy Sloane	9781311513724	Romance	2.99
6	The Seduction 3	Roxy Sloane	9781311530370	Romance	2.99
7	Saving Angel	Brenda Kennedy	9781311884435	Romance	2.99
8	The Seduction 4	Roxy Sloane	9781310951091	Romance	2.99
9	Betrayed: Book Two	Nicky Charles	9781311066817	Paranormal Romance	2.99
10	Uninhibited	Melody Grace	9781311419996	Romance	3.99
11	Mud and Gold	Shayne Parkinson	9781452303802	Historical Fiction	2.99
12	Settling the Account	Shayne Parkinson	9781452303840	Historical Fiction	2.99
13	Nothing Left to Lose	Kirsty Moseley	9781301339518	Romance	2.99
14	Forever and Always	E. L. Todd	9781310462849	Romance	4.99
15	A Second Chance	Shayne Parkinson	9781452303871	Historical Fiction	2.99
16	Drawn 2 - Redemption	Lilliana Anderson	9781310324413	Romance	3.99
17	Storm Shells	GJ Walker-Smith	9780987484567	YA Romance	3.99
18	Second Hearts	GJ Walker-Smith	9780987484550	YA Romance	3.99
19	Three Years	Lili Saint Germain	9780992526405	Romance	2.99
20	Elicit	Rachel Van Dyken	9780991587254	Romance	2.99
21	Every Sunset Forever	R.E. Butler	9781311041906	Paranormal Romance	2.99
22	Secret North	GJ Walker-Smith	9781311354280	YA Romance	3.99
23	Sweet Fall	Tillie Cole	9781310426995	Romance	2.99
24	Fable	Chanda Hahn	9781301123575	YA Romance	3.99
25	The Silver Siren	Chanda Hahn	9780996104807	YA Romance	3.99

Top 25 Ebooks - Does Price Really Matter?

Digital Book World's most recent ebook bestseller list is highly illuminating, especially in light of the Amazon vs Everybody wars. One of the contentions raised by Amazon is that in order to maximize book sales, prices of ebooks must be kept low. Their recommendation is $9.99. Publishing houses disagree.

There are a couple of questions raised by the claim that low prices means more sales, one of which is "whose books?" For unknown authors, a low price will stimulate sales. But for popular authors, buyers are willing to pay a higher price.

Another question is whether authors will get a bigger cut of the profits reaped by ebooks. So far, publishing houses are not willing to share, and while Amazon gives its authors up to 70% of retail, for most self-published authors, royalties are still negligible.

Note that on this top 25 list, all the ebooks represented have been published by major publishers. Also note that these publishers are either undercutting Amazon, or charging more than Amazon's recommended price.

Top 25 Ebook Best-Sellers

Week Ending 8/2/14Sponsored by:

Rank*	Title	Author	Publisher	Price**	Change
1 (10)	If I Stay	Gayle Forman	Penguin Random House	$    4.99	+9
2 (2)	The Fault in Our Stars	John Green	Penguin Random House	$    4.99	–
3 (2)	The Goldfinch: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)	Donna Tartt	Hachette	$    6.99	-1
4 (6)	Gone Girl: A Novel	Gillian Flynn	Penguin Random House	$    8.52	+2
5 (n/a)	Big Little Lies	Liane Moriarty	Penguin Random House	$   10.99	New
6 (n/a)	Not a Drill: A Jack Reacher Short Story (Kindle Single)	Lee Child	Penguin Random House	$    1.99	New
7 (8)	Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption	Laura Hillenbrand	Penguin Random House	$    4.99	+1
8 (7)	Act of War: A Thriller	Brad Thor	Simon & Schuster	$   12.74	-1
9 (20)	Outlander: A Novel	Diana Gabaldon	Penguin Random House	$    4.99	+11
10 (3)	Invisible	James Patterson; David Ellis	Hachette	$    8.99	-7
11 (n/a)	Fifty Shades Freed: Book Three Of The Fifty Shades Trilogy	E L James	Penguin Random House	$    7.99	New
12 (9)	Chill Factor: A Novel	Sandra Brown	Simon & Schuster	$    1.99	-3
13 (11)	Orphan Train: A Novel	Christina Baker Kline	HarperCollins	$    6.99	-2
14 (4)	The Heist: A Novel (Gabriel Allon Book 14)	Daniel Silva	HarperCollins	$   13.99	-10
15 (15)	Divergent	Veronica Roth	HarperCollins	$    4.99	–
16 (13)	Insurgent (Divergent Book 2)	Veronica Roth	HarperCollins	$    6.99	-3
17 (5)	The Book of Life: A Novel (All Souls Trilogy)	Deborah Harkness	Penguin Random House	$   11.99	-12
18 (14)	Allegiant (Divergent Series)	Veronica Roth	HarperCollins	$    6.99	-4
19 (16)	The Husband’s Secret	Liane Moriarty	Penguin Random House	$    9.99	-3
20 (12)	Top Secret Twenty-One: A Stephanie Plum Novel	Janet Evanovich	Penguin Random House	$   10.99	-8
21(n/a)	Where She Went (If I Stay Book 2)	Gayle Forman	Penguin Random House	$    4.99	New
22(n/a)	Fifty Shades Of Grey: Book One Of The Fifty Shades Trilogy	E L James	Penguin Random House	$    4.99	New
23(n/a)	All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel	Anthony Doerr	Simon & Schuster	$   10.99	New
24 (25)	A Perfect Life: A Novel	Danielle Steel	Penguin Random House	$   11.84	+1
25(n/a)	Death by Food Pyramid	Denise Minger	Primal Nutrition Inc.	$    0.99	New

* Previous week’s list rank in parentheses.

Self-Publishing Output Jumped 59% in 2012

This little tidbit appeared in Publishers Weekly today. (If you haven't signed up for their free newsletters, do it now.) In all likelihood, Bowker's number of self-published books is low. Amazon does not require ISBN numbers, so people selling their ebooks through the Amazon KDP platform - of which there are thousands - won't have been counted by Bowker.

What does this mean for self-publishers? 1) You have lot of competition, and 2) You have a market.

Source: Publishers Weekly, 10/9/13

A new analysis of ISBN data by Bowker found that the number of self-published books in 2012 rose 59% over 2011, growing to over 391,000 titles. The gain has been led by the increase in the output of e-books, although Bowker reported, print books still accounted for about 60% of self-published titles that carried an ISBN. In 2007, print books accounted for 89% of self-published titles.

The analysis also found that more than 80% of self-published titles "came to market with the support from just eight companies, including Smashwords and CreateSpace." Fiction is the most popular self-published genre followed by inspirational/spiritual works, books for children, and biographies.

In Britain, 61% of Downloaded Ebooks are Free, Kindle Dominates

The burgeoning ebook market in Great Britain has found a home on Amazon. Kindle dominates the market, which is not surprising. It also isn't surprising that 61 percent of these books are free - meaning, they are self-published through Amazon's KDP Select program.

This is bad news for publishers trying to break into the ebook market. If two-thirds of the ebook reading public expect to read a book for free, how likely is it that they are going to shell out the type of money that publishers charge for ebooks?

It is both good and bad news for self-published writers. The good news is that readers are enthusiastically downloading self-published ebooks. The bad news is that they aren't paying for them.
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79% of UK Consumers Use Kindle
Source: MediaBistro, September 13, 2013 10:34 AM
By Dianna Dilworth

Seventy percent of UK consumers use Amazon to download eBooks, according to a new report Ofcom and Kantar Media. According to the report, which looked at media consumption in the UK March-May 2013, Kindle dominated as the service used to download or access eBooks in the past three months. Apple held a very distant second place with 9 percent of UK consumers using it to download eBooks. A Google Search and eBooks.com tied for 4th and 5th place at 6 percent of consumers using these channels.

The report also examined the digital versus print downloads and revealed that during the three-month period, 58 percent of all books sold in the UK were print and 42 percent downloaded were eBooks. The study found that 61 percent of eBooks were free and only 39 percent cost money.

Eighty-three percent of these free eBooks were consumed legally and 17 percent were consumed illegally. Here is more from the report: “We estimate that 7 million e-books were consumed illegally online in the past three months – equating to 4% of all books (downloaded, accessed online, or bought in physical format).”