- Estimated number of US Amazon Prime members: 80 million
- Estimated share of Amazon customers who are also Prime members: 60%
- Estimated increase of Prime members since last year: 38%
- Increase in UK publishers’ overall digital sales in 2016 versus prior year: 6%
- Decrease in UK ebook sales in 2016 versus prior year: 3%
- Increase in UK audio downloads in 2016 versus prior year: 28%
- Change in Amazon stock during Q1 2017: +18.3%
- Change in Barnes & Noble stock during Q1 2017: -17%
- Change in Pearson stock during Q1 2017: -7.3%
- Dow Jones Average during Q1 2017: +4.6%
Sources: Amazon Prime Doubles in Size in Two Years; UK Publishing Has Record Year up 7% to £4.8bn; Amazon’s Stock Price Soars in Q1 2017
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
