In an industry that seems beset with bad news, here’s some good news for writers wanting to get into book publishing as well as for authors hoping for good book sales and to continue publishing books. However, keep an open mind about turning your manuscripts or books into e-books.
In an investor conference this morning, Tuesday, June 29, 2010, Barnes & Noble executives painted an positive picture for both the consumer book market in general and B&N in particular. According to Publisher’s Weekly, the company forecast that the consumer book market will grow from $23 billion in 2010, to $27 billion in 2013 with growth coming from e-book sales. Sales of e-books are predicted to be $6 billion while sales of print books will fall by $6 billion. B&N is confident it will be one of the few places where people will buy e-books unlike the highly fragmented bricks-and-mortar market.
Do expect to see B&N closing some stores—more than six to 10 stores annually over the next three years as leases expire (leases are up in 400 stores next four years). Primarily these will be second stores in the same market.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, no matter what type of book you publish, make sure it’s available in all e-reader forms. This seems the wave of the future.
Leave a Reply