New Bowker Study Finds Increasing Growth in SelfPub ISBNs

[Ted]

The rate of ISBN purchase for self-published books has increased by more than 218% since 2011, back when the digital revolution arguably took off. The Bowker report, “Self-Publishing in the United States, 2011-2016 Print vs. Ebook,” highlights a number of results that demonstrate just how serious both authors and readers are about self-published works.

“Overall, we believe that these numbers point toward an ongoing maturation and stabilization of the self-publishing industry,” said Beat Barblan, Director of Identifier Services at Bowker in a press release. “Tracking these trends and comparing the numbers over the years provides tremendous insight into this industry. This enables us to respond by offering the best tools and support to independent authors, according to their current needs.”

Lest this mislead anyone as to the state of self-publishing, it’s worth noting that this information refers to authors who purchased their own ISBN numbers–either on their own or as part of a project them completed with the help of a publishing service provider–as opposed to using a free Amazon-assigned number.

You may download the Bowker report in PDF here... media.bowker.com/documents/bowker-selfpublishing-report2016.pdf

[chelsfield]

Although it is interesting, I''m not quite sure what too make of it. Indy authors regarding their publishing more seriously? Is this in turn because they are seeing more sales? Hard to tell...

[Ted]

Oct 14, 2017 22:41:29 GMT -8 chelsfield said:

Although it is interesting, I''m not quite sure what too make of it. Indy authors regarding their publishing more seriously? Is this in turn because they are seeing more sales? Hard to tell...

I agree its hard to tell. Data limited to Bowker dataset. A wider dataset might have been more fruitful.

Sort of like watching paint dry. While interesting to some not that useful to many.


Save

[djmills]

What it means is more Indie authors are publishing through IngramSpark to sell through brick and mortar bookstores, or getting a print run with a small printer to sell direct. Whether the print books sell or not depends, like all books, on covers, blurb, subject and marketing. :-)

As 80% of print sales is online these days, I am keeping my print books in Createspace, using Createspace ISBNs (free), for sale through Amazon, BookDepository, AbeBooks and all other book sellers who have a website. I still get extended distribution sales, but only 1 or 2 a month.

However, this way won't last for long, since Amazon will close Createspace as soon as they get their own POD web pages working correctly. And, if you missed it, Amazon will take up to 20% more in fees once Createspace has shut down. But they did say they would only increase their fees 10% for the first 6 months after they physically move my POD book information from Createspace to Amazon, then in 6 months time, increase their fees again to be the same as others doing POD directly through Amazon.

So, I only have 6 months to get my own ISBNs (expensive in Australia) and set up POD info in IngramSpark for extended distribution, and then shut it off via Amazon, leaving Amazon to sell my POD books through their own website, and IngramSpark to sell/distribute to all brick and mortar stores around the world.

[Ted]

Ah, lovely, wonderful, author-friendly Amazon.

Amazon has announced a contest amongst cities to host Amazon's second headquarters. In honor of authors experience dealing with Amazon I hereby recommend Amazon move to the metropolis of Spuzzum, BC. The promo tag for the Amazon headquarters, in honor of the town, would then be 'Amazon, just beyond Hope.' en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spuzzum

Back in the '60's and '70's Spuzzum was famous for it's road signs; going north it was spelled Spuzumm, going south it was spelled Spuzzum. Rumour has it some pranksters were responsible.

[jjmainor]

Raleigh is in the running for their headquarters. The area has been growing so fast in the decade I've been down here, traffic is already cramped. They will have to accelerate their road projects at lightspeed to accommodate the increased traffic from all the jobs they're expecting Amazon to create if they decide to come here.