There is a lot of speculation about the impact of e-books, but often without any hard data. In the October 2014 Frankfurt Book Fair edition of Publishers Weekly, Jo Henry passes along some interesting figures regarding the sales of e-books:
* In the U.S., e-books accounted for 23% of unit sales in the first six months of 2014
* Adult fiction and young adult fiction e-books each account for 30% of sales in their categories
* In adult non-fiction, e-books account for 22% of unit sales
* In children's books (not including YA), the figure is 13%
* In the UK e-books sales are growing but not as fast as the sale of print books are declining.
* The amount UK book buyers are paying for e-books is rising. The average was £3.39 in 2013; in the first half of 2014 it was £4.14; this may also have added to the decline in impulse buying of e-books.
* The use of dedicated e-readers (like the Kindle) is declining, but the use of tablets is rising. The use of smart phone for book reading is still small--6% of e-books bought to read primarily on a mobile phone.
