The Association of American Publishers also has year-end figures for 2021, which show growth in line with earlier figures reported by BookScan—which reported 9 percent growth. Consumer book sales were up 11.9 percent over 2020, with adult sales up 11.4 percent and children’s/YA sales up 12.9 percent. However, digital sales were flat, comprising just under 20 percent of the overall market. Compare that against 2020, when digital sales accounted for over a third of the year’s gains for traditional publishers. Ebook sales were in fact down by 4.7 percent, and digital audio grew 13.4 percent. It won’t take but another couple years before digital audio sales outpace ebook sales in the US.
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.
