In Canada, the state of the publishing industry is always the question on the minds of those deeply involved as there tends to be an air of uncertainty, especially since the digital age has, so heavily, played a role in it. This role though, may be the one aspect that can help protect the industry and provide a healthier profit margin for publishers as well as larger royalties for authors.
The fact is, times change and the publishing industry has to adapt, especially if it is seeing any threats to margins. E-books have shown to be the much needed bump to the industry. Let’s take a closer look.
Since 2000, revenues have generally fallen to close to a Billion dollars. But there is a lot of hope coming from the sales of E-books and audiobooks. Both products offer much higher profit margins since after initial setup, there is not a constant overhead cost to printing and storing these books as opposed to physical copies.
In the 2019 edition of its The State of Publishing in Canada report, BookNet Canada noted that almost half of Canadian publishers had dedicated staff working on e-books as of that year. Nearly all publishers (91%) were actively producing e-books, and 55% had produced digital editions for most or all of their backlists by that time.
Producing e-books allows them to reach new readers (83% according to BookNet) or increase sales (78%).
The Statistics Canada data suggests that e-books accounted for about 14% of publishers’ sales in 2018. And the same reporting system, more recently has E-book and audiobook sales matching the sale of paperbacks.
“E-books have been an absolute dream for the press,” says Playwrights Canada Press Publisher Annie Gibson. “Sales are growing every year but have not been cannibalizing our print sales and we offer higher royalties on digital editions to playwrights.”
I would never suggest doing away with physical versions of books but why not offer readers every way possible to try and enjoy a book? Audiobooks and E-books have the ability to service the aspect of the industry that has accessibility issues and disabilities. This is something that I truly appreciate being able to offer myself.
