Last November, I attended an interesting webinar co-hosted by BISG and DBW, called E-Books in the Global Marketplace. Though this post is a little late, the information is still relevant, and I think it’s worth sharing some of the findings.
First, here’s one view of the number of e-books bought around the world, as well as how many people in different countries have Internet access and buy e-books:
Also, there is a chance that people will download an e-book illegally, but this is not the worst thing that could happen. (See Cory Doctorow’s “How Writers Lose When ‘Piracy’ Gets Harder.”)
Lastly, and what most people already know, is a list of the main distributors of e-books. Of course, they are not the only distributors, and there are a lot of great digital publishing related startups out there that can help authors increase sales. For example, my subscription startup Write or Read, which will be launching a public beta in a couple months, will give authors metrics and insights into their books, such as basic demographics of their readers, what percentages of their books are read, and how quickly people read their books. So, something to think about *wink.
