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Books and E-books - UK - June 2018

OVERVIEW
What you need to know
Products covered in this Report
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The market
Book market to remain steady in 2018
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
Figure 2: Book buying habits (nets), April 2018
Amazon dominates the retail landscape
Figure 3: Where people buy print books, April 2018
One in three read e-books via a subscription
Figure 4: E-book paid-for subscriptions, April 2018
Crime/thriller is the most popular fiction genre
Figure 5: Genres of fiction books bought, April 2018
People spend more time browsing in-store than online
Figure 6: Bookstore purchasing habits, April 2018
Figure 7: Online book purchasing habits, April 2018
People are looking for the cheapest for e-books
Figure 8: E-book purchasing behaviour, April 2018
What we think
ISSUES AND INSIGHTS
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
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
Book market to remain steady in 2018
Figure 9: Value of consumer book market sales, 2013-23
Forecasts
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
Slight growth in value of fiction
Figure 13: Value of consumer market print book sales, by type of book, 2013-2017
MARKET DRIVERS
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
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
Mixed results for top publishers in 2017
Figure 14: Value of consumer market print book sales, by top-20 publishers, 2016-17
Hachette has strong e-book year
Figure 15: Volume of consumer market e-books sales, by ‘big five’ publishers, 2013-17
Jaime Oliver tops the pile in 2017
Figure 16: Top 10 consumer print books, by volume and value, 2017
Stephen Fry dominates audiobook world
Figure 17: Top 20 audiobook downloads from Audible, 2017
LAUNCH ACTIVITY AND INNOVATION
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
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 
Half of people buy print books
Figure 18: Book buying habits (nets), April 2018
Figure 19: Book buying habits, April 2018
Audiobook penetration set to grow
READING HABITS AND DEVICES USED
Almost one in four read a book on an e-reader
Figure 20: Devices used for e-books and audiobooks April 2018
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
Figure 22: Audiobook listening preferences, April 2018
E-BOOK AND AUDIOBOOK SUBSCRIPTIONS 
One in three read e-books via a subscription
Figure 23: E-book paid-for subscriptions, April 2018
Nearly four in ten listen to audiobooks as part of a subscription
Figure 24: Audiobook paid-for subscriptions, April 2018
NUMBER OF BOOKS READ
Half of people read 2-9 books a year
Figure 25: Number of books read, April 2018
Figure 26: Number of books read, by age, April 2018
WHERE PEOPLE BUY PRINT BOOKS
Amazon dominates the retail landscape
Nearly one in two purchase print books from chains
Figure 27: Where people buy print books, April 2018
One in four purchased from an independent bookstore
GENRES OF BOOKS BOUGHT 
Crime/thriller is the most popular fiction genre
Figure 28: Genres of fiction books bought, April 2018
Figure 29: Genres of fiction books bought, by age, April 2018
Only one in ten men buy romance novels
Figure 30: Genres of fiction book bought, by gender, April 2018
Biography/memoirs are bought by almost one in three
Figure 31: Genres of non-fiction books bought, April 2018
Younger people are more interested in books related to health and self-help
Figure 32: Genre of non-fiction book bought, by age, April 2018
People buy a greater number of fiction genres
Figure 33: Repertoire of book genres bought, fiction and non-fiction, April 2018
BOOK PURCHASING HABITS 
People spend more time browsing in-store than online
Displays have encouraged one in four to make a purchase
Figure 34: Bookstore purchasing habits, April 2018
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
Figure 36: E-book purchasing behaviour, April 2018
APPENDIX – DATA SOURCES, ABBREVIATIONS AND SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Abbreviations
Consumer research methodology
APPENDIX – MARKET SIZE AND FORECAST
Market forecasts
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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