Table of Contents
Overview
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- What you need to know
- Products covered in this Report
Executive Summary
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- The market
- Book market to remain steady in 2018
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- Figure 1: Forecast of total consumer book market sales, 2013-23
- Slight growth in value of fiction
- The number of independent stores increases for first time in 20 years
- Waterstones sold to hedge fund
- Key players
- Mixed results for top publishers in 2017
- Hachette has strong e-book year
- More audiobook options are being introduced to take on Audible
- The consumer
- Half of people buy print books
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- Figure 2: Book buying habits (nets), April 2018
- Amazon dominates the retail landscape
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- Figure 3: Where people buy print books, April 2018
- One in three read e-books via a subscription
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- Figure 4: E-book paid-for subscriptions, April 2018
- Crime/thriller is the most popular fiction genre
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- Figure 5: Genres of fiction books bought, April 2018
- People spend more time browsing in-store than online
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- Figure 6: Bookstore purchasing habits, April 2018
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- Figure 7: Online book purchasing habits, April 2018
- People are looking for the cheapest for e-books
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- Figure 8: E-book purchasing behaviour, April 2018
- What we think
Issues and Insights
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- Smart speakers to give extra boost to audiobook market
- The facts
- The implications
- The problem of e-book pricing
- The facts
- The implications
The Market – What You Need to Know
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- Book market to remain steady in 2018
- E-book market to grow by 2% in 2018
- Slight growth in value of fiction
- Waterstones sold to hedge fund
- The number of independent stores increases for first time in 20 years
- EU yet to reduce VAT on e-books
Market Size and Forecast
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- Book market to remain steady in 2018
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- Figure 9: Value of consumer book market sales, 2013-23
- Forecasts
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- Figure 10: Forecast of total consumer book market sales, 2013-23
- Figure 11: Forecast of total consumer print book market sales, 2013-23
- Figure 12: Forecast of total consumer e-book market sales, 2013-23
- Forecast methodology
Market Segmentation
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- Slight growth in value of fiction
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- Figure 13: Value of consumer market print book sales, by type of book, 2013-2017
Market Drivers
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- Waterstones sold to hedge fund, but remains under fire for unbranded stores
- The number of independent stores increases for first time in 20 years
- Libraries continue to close at a significant rate
- EU yet to reduce VAT on e-books
Key Players – What You Need to Know
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- Mixed results for top publishers in 2017
- Hachette has strong e-book year
- Jaime Oliver tops the pile in 2017
- More audiobook options are being introduced to take on Audible
- Audiobooks.com launches in the UK
- Kobo introduces audiobooks
- Spotify signs deal with Bloomsbury for Audiobooks
- Google adds audiobooks to Play Books
- PRH measures diversity via ‘inclusion tracker’
Market Share
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- Mixed results for top publishers in 2017
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- Figure 14: Value of consumer market print book sales, by top-20 publishers, 2016-17
- Hachette has strong e-book year
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- Figure 15: Volume of consumer market e-books sales, by ‘big five’ publishers, 2013-17
- Jaime Oliver tops the pile in 2017
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- Figure 16: Top 10 consumer print books, by volume and value, 2017
- Stephen Fry dominates audiobook world
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- Figure 17: Top 20 audiobook downloads from Audible, 2017
Launch Activity and Innovation
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- More audiobook options are being introduced to take on Audible
- Audiobooks.com launches in the UK
- Kobo introduces audiobooks
- Spotify signs deal with Bloomsbury for Audiobooks
- Google adds audiobooks to Play Books
- Publishers invest more in vinyl audiobooks
- Efforts are being made to promote under-represented demographics
- PRH measures diversity via ‘inclusion tracker’
- Women-only pop-up introduced by Waterstones
- Penguin launches more diverse series of classics
- Pan Macmillan launches competition for independent bookshops…
- …and launches influencer-hosted house parties
The Consumer – What You Need to Know
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- Half of people buy print books
- Half of people read 2-9 books a year
- Amazon is the primary way people buy print books
- Subscriptions are playing an important role for digital books
- Displays have encouraged one in four to make a purchase
- People spend more time browsing for book in bookstores than online
- Many enjoy listening to audiobooks with others
- People are often looking for the cheapest e-books
Book Buying Habits
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- Half of people buy print books
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- Figure 18: Book buying habits (nets), April 2018
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- Figure 19: Book buying habits, April 2018
- Audiobook penetration set to grow
Reading Habits and Devices Used
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- Almost one in four read a book on an e-reader
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- Figure 20: Devices used for e-books and audiobooks April 2018
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- Figure 21: Devices used for e-books and audiobooks, by age, April 2018
- One in five 16-24-year-olds read e-books on a smartphone
- Smart speakers to further boost audiobook market
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- Figure 22: Audiobook listening preferences, April 2018
E-book and Audiobook Subscriptions
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- One in three read e-books via a subscription
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- Figure 23: E-book paid-for subscriptions, April 2018
- Nearly four in ten listen to audiobooks as part of a subscription
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- Figure 24: Audiobook paid-for subscriptions, April 2018
Number of Books Read
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- Half of people read 2-9 books a year
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- Figure 25: Number of books read, April 2018
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- Figure 26: Number of books read, by age, April 2018
Where People Buy Print Books
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- Amazon dominates the retail landscape
- Nearly one in two purchase print books from chains
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- Figure 27: Where people buy print books, April 2018
- One in four purchased from an independent bookstore
Genres of Books Bought
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- Crime/thriller is the most popular fiction genre
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- Figure 28: Genres of fiction books bought, April 2018
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- Figure 29: Genres of fiction books bought, by age, April 2018
- Only one in ten men buy romance novels
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- Figure 30: Genres of fiction book bought, by gender, April 2018
- Biography/memoirs are bought by almost one in three
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- Figure 31: Genres of non-fiction books bought, April 2018
- Younger people are more interested in books related to health and self-help
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- Figure 32: Genre of non-fiction book bought, by age, April 2018
- People buy a greater number of fiction genres
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- Figure 33: Repertoire of book genres bought, fiction and non-fiction, April 2018
Book Purchasing Habits
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- People spend more time browsing in-store than online
- Displays have encouraged one in four to make a purchase
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- Figure 34: Bookstore purchasing habits, April 2018
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- Figure 35: Online book purchasing habits, April 2018
- One in three look at other readers’ reviews when purchasing online
- People are looking for the cheapest for e-books
- Men are far more likely to be enticed by audiobook tie-ins
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- Figure 36: E-book purchasing behaviour, April 2018
Appendix – Data Sources, Abbreviations and Supporting Information
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- Abbreviations
- Consumer research methodology
Appendix – Market Size and Forecast
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- Market forecasts
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- Figure 37: Value of total consumer book market sales, 2018-23
- Figure 38: Value of total consumer print book market sales, 2018-23
- Figure 39: Value of total consumer e-book market sales, 2018-23
- Forecast methodology
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