Surprise! Which States Buy the Most Ebooks?

Mark Coker, a blogger at Smashwords, has just released some truly stunning and fascinating information about which states are consuming the most e-books. 

His data is a riveting look at which states are not buying e-books, and which states are snatching them up. 

And Mr. Coker's could have stopped there and called it a day, but he went on, taking the same data and compiling a state-by-state ranking according to per capita sales -- and this is where his data becomes stunning. 


Wanna guess which state by far buys more e-books per capita than any other -- three books per person across the whole state! And you'll be floored to find out which state buys the fewest e-books in America. I'm proud to say my state came in third in per-capita e-book sales. 


The answers are in the two data charts below, and you can see how your own state stacks up. -Caleb 

You can read Mr. Coker's great commentary on his research here:

http://tinyurl.com/4guxsew

US States, Ranked by Aggregate Ebook Purchases

Source: Smashwords data

Rank	State	Percentage of US Ebook Sales
1	TX	8.57%
2	CA	7.99%
3	NY	5.99%
4	FL	5.93%
5	PA	4.13%
6	IL	3.90%
7	VA	3.62%
8	NC	3.36%
9	OH	3.16%
10	MI	3.12%
11	GA	2.88%
12	WA	2.81%
13	NJ	2.77%
14	IN	2.46%
15	MO	2.40%
16	AZ	2.26%
17	CO	2.09%
18	MN	2.07%
19	MA	2.04%
20	WI	1.91%
21	MD	1.91%
22	SC	1.78%
23	TN	1.63%
24	LA	1.52%
25	AL	1.45%
26	UT	1.44%
27	OK	1.38%
28	OR	1.35%
29	IA	1.33%
30	KY	1.31%
31	CT	1.13%
32	KS	1.09%
33	AR	0.98%
34	NV	0.83%
35	MS	0.72%
36	AK	0.66%
37	NE	0.66%
38	ID	0.65%
39	NM	0.65%
40	NH	0.61%
41	ND	0.48%
42	WV	0.45%
43	MT	0.42%
44	RI	0.37%
45	HI	0.32%
46	ME	0.32%
46	SD	0.29%
48	DE	0.29%
49	WY	0.26%
50	VT	0.20%
51	DC	0.09%

Per Capita Ebook Consumption
Source: Smashwords data

Rank	State	Ebook Per Capita Sales Ratio	Percentage of US Ebook Sales	State Pop	US Pop	% US Pop
1	AK	2.92	0.66%	698,473	307,006,550	0.23%
2	ND	2.29	0.48%	646,844	307,006,550	0.21%
3	UT	1.58	1.44%	2,784,572	307,006,550	0.91%
4	WY	1.44	0.26%	544,270	307,006,550	0.18%
5	VA	1.41	3.62%	7,882,590	307,006,550	2.57%
6	NH	1.41	0.61%	1,324,575	307,006,550	0.43%
7	IA	1.36	1.33%	3,007,856	307,006,550	0.98%
8	MT	1.32	0.42%	974,989	307,006,550	0.32%
9	ID	1.30	0.65%	1,545,801	307,006,550	0.50%
10	WA	1.29	2.81%	6,664,195	307,006,550	2.17%
11	CO	1.28	2.09%	5,024,748	307,006,550	1.64%
12	MO	1.23	2.40%	5,987,580	307,006,550	1.95%
13	MN	1.20	2.07%	5,266,214	307,006,550	1.72%
14	SC	1.20	1.78%	4,561,242	307,006,550	1.49%
15	KS	1.18	1.09%	2,818,747	307,006,550	0.92%
16	IN	1.18	2.46%	6,423,113	307,006,550	2.09%
17	OK	1.15	1.38%	3,687,050	307,006,550	1.20%
18	NE	1.12	0.66%	1,796,619	307,006,550	0.59%
19	SD	1.10	0.29%	812,383	307,006,550	0.26%
20	NC	1.10	3.36%	9,380,884	307,006,550	3.06%
21	OR	1.08	1.35%	3,825,657	307,006,550	1.25%
22	RI	1.07	0.37%	1,053,209	307,006,550	0.34%
23	TX	1.06	8.57%	24,782,302	307,006,550	8.07%
24	AZ	1.05	2.26%	6,595,778	307,006,550	2.15%
25	AR	1.04	0.98%	2,889,450	307,006,550	0.94%
26	WI	1.04	1.91%	5,654,774	307,006,550	1.84%
27	LA	1.04	1.52%	4,492,076	307,006,550	1.46%
28	MD	1.03	1.91%	5,699,478	307,006,550	1.86%
29	PA	1.01	4.13%	12,604,767	307,006,550	4.11%
30	VT	1.00	0.20%	621,760	307,006,550	0.20%
31	DE	0.99	0.29%	885,122	307,006,550	0.29%
32	CT	0.99	1.13%	3,518,288	307,006,550	1.15%
33	NM	0.99	0.65%	2,009,671	307,006,550	0.65%
34	FL	0.98	5.93%	18,537,969	307,006,550	6.04%
35	NJ	0.98	2.77%	8,707,739	307,006,550	2.84%
36	NV	0.96	0.83%	2,643,085	307,006,550	0.86%
37	MI	0.96	3.12%	9,969,727	307,006,550	3.25%
38	MA	0.95	2.04%	6,593,587	307,006,550	2.15%
39	AL	0.94	1.45%	4,708,708	307,006,550	1.53%
40	NY	0.94	5.99%	19,541,453	307,006,550	6.37%
41	KY	0.93	1.31%	4,314,113	307,006,550	1.41%
42	IL	0.93	3.90%	12,910,409	307,006,550	4.21%
43	GA	0.90	2.88%	9,829,211	307,006,550	3.20%
44	OH	0.84	3.16%	11,542,645	307,006,550	3.76%
45	TN	0.80	1.63%	6,296,254	307,006,550	2.05%
46	HI	0.77	0.32%	1,295,178	307,006,550	0.42%
46	WV	0.76	0.45%	1,819,777	307,006,550	0.59%
48	ME	0.75	0.32%	1,318,301	307,006,550	0.43%
49	MS	0.75	0.72%	2,951,996	307,006,550	0.96%
50	CA	0.66	7.99%	36,961,664	307,006,550	12.04%
51	DC	0.46	0.09%	599,657	307,006,550	0.20%

World's Bestselling E-book Author Signs $2M deal with MacMillian

Big news in the world of publishing today!

Amanda Hocking, the 26-year-old self-published author who became the world's bestselling e-book author, has signed a deal with St. Martin's Press, according to several sources, including the New York Times.

The Times reports that St. Martin’s Press, which is part of Macmillan, will publish 4 books in Amanda's “Watersong” series. The books will be YA paranormal.

"A heated auction for the rights to publish her books began early last week, and several major publishers, including Random House, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins, dropped out as the price climbed into the seven figures.," according to the Times. "The bidding eventually rose beyond $2 million for world English rights.

I first talked about Amanda Hocking, who lives in Minnesota, on this blog a couple of weeks ago. I now have to change what I said about her. Here is what I originally said:

"She is the face of a brave new world, an overnight celebrity, suddenly and fabulously rich, and the literal embodiment of the decline and fall of the publishing world as we knew it, oh, six months ago."

So, what does today's news mean for us, the everyday struggling writers who are trying to discern whether we should be chasing agents or simply publishing e-books?

Here is what Amanda herself has to say about her decision (she posted this on her blog on Tuesday):

"There's some buzz on the internet about me, and I'm not at a point where I can say much about it. But here's what I can say - I'm writer. I want to be a writer. I do not want to spend 40 hours a week handling emails, formatting covers, finding editors, etc. Right now, being me is a full time corporation."


So what it comes down to, in my opinion, is help. It sounds like she wants help. A year ago she was a normal, unheard-of writer (sound familiar?). Now she is, as she says, a corporation. So she's turned to traditional publishing because of what they can offer -- publicity help, marketing, sales, etc.


This is my interpretation of what this all means: She got a $2 million deal BECAUSE of e-books. Remember that she had been repeatedly turned down by agents and publishers before. She took her writing straight to the masses, and the masses spoke, and the traditional publishers listened.


She went on to say she did not want to be the "poster child" for the ebook movement and that she will continue to self-publish, including a new book in April or May.


Here's a recap of her story. In January she sold more than 450,000 ebooks.

Yes, sit down for a moment and take that in. Nearly half a millon books IN ONE MONTH.

How did a 26-year-old in Minnesota single-handedly set major publishing houses shivering in their book-covers --  without even trying?

She published her first book, My Blood Approves, to the Kindle Store in April 2010, not even a year ago, according to her blog. A week later, she made the sequel available too. Here is what happened next:

• In April 2010, she sold 45 ebooks in two weeks by word of mouth.
• In May 2010, she sold 624 ebooks and made $362.
• In June 2010, she sold 4,258 ebooks and made $3,180.
• In July 2010, she sold 3,532 books and made $6,527.

Then suddenly she found herself at the epicenter of seismic shift in the book universe (to mix metaphors).

In August, a publishing house in Hungary asked to buy foreign rights. She approached five agents and got one. Here’s the real shocker, which in a nutshell summarizes how the old world has yet to catch up to the new world of bookselling: Of the five agents, only three even asked for a manuscript -- even though she had people asking to buy her foreign rights. Of the three agents that did ask for a manuscript, two never contacted her again (as of her account in August 2010). She signed with Steven Axelrod at The Axelrod Agency, Inc.

You can find Amanda Hocking and her books at AmandaHocking.blogspot.com.


And thanks to author Linda Bethers for tipping me off to this news!

E-book Sales See Huge Jump; Hardback/Paperback Drop

Traditional publishing continues to falter while e-book sales soar, according to a just-released report from the Association of American Publishers. Here's the trends that every writer should keep an eye on, by the numbers:

• E-book sales took a huge jump, up 116% compared to January 2010 (from $32 million to $70 million). 
• Sales of downloadable audio books rose 9% in the same time period. 
• Total books sales dropped to $805.7 million compared to January 2010’s $821.5M sales (-1.9%).
• Adult Hardcover category fell 11%
• Adult Paperback sales dropped 20%
• Adult Mass Market declined 31%
• Children’s/Young Adult, hardcover sales dropped 2%
• Children's/Young Adult paperbacks plunged 18% 
• Sales of religious books grew by 5.6%

The World's Most Expensive e-Book !?!

Once upon a few months ago, the whole point of having e-Books was affordability -- the darn things were supposed to be cheaper. Remember that?

No so much anymore, apparently. Some ebooks -- such as Donald Rumsfield's new tome, "Known and Unknown -- actually cost MORE as ebooks than as traditional print books. Huh? Why? The e-Book price, in case you are wondering, is $20, which is twenty cents more than the paper-printed version.

And then there is the $238 e-Book. Wow -- better be a good read. You can read all about it here:

http://www.mediabistro.com/ebooknewser/a-238-ebook_b7433

Ebook Trends: Good and Bad News

Avon announces ebook-only imprint
Avon Romance, which is an imprint of Harper Collins, has announced its first ebook-only imprint, named Avon Impulse. (An imprint is simply a division of a publishing company, if you are new to the term). Here are the important details:

• Impulse is accepting non-agented submissions
• Impulse hopes to begin by publishing a new ebook every week

Impulse promises distinctive covers and strong marketing for their new authors. And why the sudden urge for an ebook-only imprint?

“Two reasons,” said Avon execs in a statement. “First, traditional channels for mass market genre fiction are shrinking. Fewer grocery stores, drug stores, mall stores and superstores are carrying a broad selection of romance titles. While there is a strong consumer market for Avon titles, the channels that we have always depended on to grow new voices and publish broadly are under pressure. Second, the growth of eReaders and e-books have created a new opportunity that allows us to begin increasing the number and diversity of our romance list for the first time in 10 years.”


POWELL'S BOOKS lays off 31 employees
This news is a surprise because the industry believed the Powell’s might be faring better the Barnes & Noble and Borders because it has a strong online sales presence and fewer brick and mortar stores. A leaded internal memo also says that Powell’s employees will so face a second wave of layoffs.


RANDOM HOUSE ebooks outsell physical books
NPR recently reported that Random House was actually selling more ebooks than physical books in the first week of release for some titles, especially thrillers.


TWO PUBLISHERS see huge ebook sales spike
Penguin Books announced that its ebook profits were 182% and are now 6% of total Penguin revenues.

Bloomsbury Publishing has announced that its ebook sales grew 18-fold in 2010 over 2009, and that total ebook sales for the year were about 10 percent of traditional publishing sales.

• $131,000: Bloomsbury ebook sales in 2009:
• $2.3 million: Bloomsbury ebook sales in 2010: