According to an Amazon vice president who spoke to the WSJ, sales of the Kindle device have grown in the double-digit percentages for each of the past two years, with people under 45 representing the fastest-growing customer segment. About 60 percent of sales growth is coming from people who’ve never before purchased a Kindle. The article also mentions that digital book checkouts from libraries have grown 75 percent since 2019. (Amazon users can connect their Kindle account with Libby, the most popular library checkout app for digital books.)
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.
