Electronic books in the USA – their numbers and development and a comparison to Germany

摘要

Purpose – While there are frequently quoted articles about the revenue in e-books over the last two years there is no regular statistical information about the amount of e-books being published. This article attempts to fill this gap.Design/methodology/approach – The paper states the total number of commercially available English-speaking e-books in the US-market and reviews the growth of the publishing-activities over the last 20 years. Finally, the paper sets the growth of the publishing activities in the e-book-market in relation to the developments in the hardcover-market. The data about the English-speaking publications was obtained from the book trade directory Global Books In Print Online. The data about the German-speaking publications was gathered from the author's own survey. Findings – There are at least 115,000 commercial English-speaking e-book-editions offered in the US-market. There is an increase of an average of 20 per cent a year in the production of e-books over the last 20 years. In relation to the total amount of hardcover-editions the total number of e-book-titles run up to 9 per cent. In comparison to Germany the USA is at the forefront of the e-book-market. About 5,000 German-speaking e-book-titles were published, which runs up to 1 per cent of the total amount of hardcover editions. Originality/value – The low number of e-books published is one of the central problems of the e-book-market. As there is no other data available yet this article provides the reader with the information needed to assess the situation.