Author: Kindle eBooks Outselling Apple iBooks 60-to-1

Ed Sutherland ()

Author: Kindle eBooks Outselling Apple iBooks 60-to-1

Remember back in June when Apple told developers the iBookstore had 22 percent of the eBook market? An author who uses both platforms to market his writing is now telling a vastly-different story. He sells 200 Kindle ebooks each day, compared to 100 a month for the iPad’s iBooks.

Despite the Kindle ebooks not currently supporting color or video, like the ebooks via Apple’s iBookstore, “according to my numbers Apple is a very small part of the ebook market,” blogs author Joe Konrath. “I sell 200 ebooks a day on Kindle. On iPad, I sell 100 a month,” he adds.

The numbers seem closer to figures released earlier this month on the ebook market. Amazon’s Kindle Store had 61 percent of the market, while Barnes & Noble had 20 percent and Sony had five percent, according to the Bowker study. Although Apple was not listed, the Cupertino, Calif. company’s ebook efforts apparently registered fewer than five percent of the market.

In terms of ebook readers, Amazon’s Kindle had 40 percent of the market, with reading ebooks on your computer coming in second most popular.

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[AllThingsD, Joe Konrath, Electronista]

21 comments »

About the author

Ed Sutherland

Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

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  • http://ipatrix.com Patrix

    I’m not surprised that Amazon is selling more books than iBooks; first-mover advantage and all that. But I’m wondering where did you get the 60-1 number. On basis on one author’s self-reported numbers? Apple is not even listed on the other study you mention and your headline will hold true only if iBooks is one percent or less and even a single point increase brings down the ratio by half each time.

    Anyway, nice Monday linkbait. That was the aim anyway, right?

  • Johnny Rocket

    Excuse me, but ONE author’s books being sold via Amazon or Apple does not a valid study make.

  • http://newslancers.com Ed Sutherland

    The author’s comments about Kindle vs. iBooks sales were only that, an author’s comments. The 60-to-1 ratio comes from the 6000 Kindle sales (200 books x 30 days) vs. 100 iBooks in 30 days, or 6000:100. Again, this only applied to Konrath’s sales.

  • Alfred

    Are there any other CoM readers who are authors selling on both Kindle and iBooks who can share their experiences?

  • http://ipatrix.com Patrix

    So once again, why should we care about Konrath’s sales? Is sales for his book reflective of the industry? J.K. Rowling, Dan Brown, James Patterson, etc. maybe. Konrath seems to be famous only for being an evangelist of ebooks rather than his writing.

  • John

    I won’t consider buying an iBook until I can read it on anything. I can read my Kindle books on my Kindle, Mac, PC, iPad and iPhone 4.

    I can read my iBooks on… iPhone 4 and iPad.

    It does not make sense for me to buy my books in the iBook or any other format that I can not view on as wide a variety of devices.

  • Tim Rosencrans

    The question is how many of those kindle sales are actually being read on an iPad. The iBook store doesn’t need to dominate the market it just needs to keep Amazon in check by providing another option.

  • Nathan

    I use Kindle over iBooks. For the authors (and rather mainstream authors at that) I read, there is either very little or no selection in the iBooks store.

  • Conrad

    I’ll have to agree with Nathan. There is no selection on the iBookstore. At least not in Canada. I really wanted some Deathly Hallows on my iPad, but alas. Also, no Donald Miller. Of course, I dont have much interest in buying a Kindle either…

    I’ll just go buy a paper copy.

  • charli

    I have to agree with Johnny, this is one person’s sales. Not the sum total of all authors.

  • Mezzrow

    Right, can’t base anything on one author’s experience. It could come down to the demographics of who buy his books on iOS devices vs. those who shop at Amazon.

    Two important points:

    Amazon’s ebook inventory is still MUCH larger than Apple’s–Apple still doesn’t even have Random House, the biggest publisher, on board.

    Also, Apple has a LOT of work to do to make the iBook store browsable. Just as an example, they update the main page highlighting new titles every week, but in categories (cookbooks, nonfiction, etc.) nothing has been updated for ages. More importantly, they have not yet figured out how to sell to bookbuyers who like to browse, as Amazon has done. Even their search function needs work.

    Myself, I WANT an alternative to Amazon, and I always look for a title in the iBook store first, then go to Amazon when Apple doesn’t have it. But I’d rather buy it from someone besides Amazon, so I’d like to see Apple get this right.

  • Mezzrow

    P.S. Conrad–there is no ebook edition of any Harry Potter book (legal copies, anyway) anywhere, from anyone.

  • Me

    Maybe iPad users are not interested in his book ? Pointless comparison….comparing whole market to one author is a fallacy itself.

  • http://xstylestudio.com Dimo

    Yes this sorry is ridicules… 6-1… and from one author? Whatever…

  • http://xstylestudio.com Dimo

    Yes this sorry is ridicules… 6-1… and from one author?

  • Maxx Wyler

    Who the hell is Joe Konrath and what is a Kindle? LOL. Ok, I know what a kindle is.

  • Mike Fulton

    The Kindle stand-alone reader may be B&W but the Kindle format ABSOLUTELY supports color. I’ve got several Kindle-format eBooks that have color illustrations in them and they show up beautifully in my Kindle for iPad reader app.

  • LeeF

    Would be really nice to be able to use IBooks, we still can’t purchase here in Australia :(

  • Steve

    I’ve looked for books in Apple’s bookstore, and to be honest I have never found the book I am looking for there. While every book I have searched for since getting my iPad has been available from Amazon.

    There are entire genres missing from the iBook store. Until Apple takes book sales more seriously, Amazon will continue to stay ahead.

    Oh, and when will Apple release the Windows version of the iBook reader?

  • J

    I would love to buy more iBooks…. But if I compare price, the kindle books are cheaper… Or at worst the same price. Plus, the selection is soo much greater on amazon.

  • http://www.danielpyle.com Daniel Pyle

    I’m an author, and although my ratio isn’t quite as skewed as Konrath’s, I do sell far more copies through Amazon than Apple. For August, my ratio was exactly 5:1. Part of this, I think, stems from the fact that we authors have no way to promote our books through iBooks. Amazon has forums and whole sites dedicated to its reader and books. Someone interested in reading my book can’t even look up the iBook version unless he’s on an iDevice (and one with the latest OS update to boot). Anyone with a computer or can read a Kindle sample.

    Add to that the difficulty of navigating the iBookstore. I can’t even find my own book unless I search for the exact title or my full name. Amazon has the “Customers Who Bought This Item” section and the “So you’d like to…” lists. And tags. Someone is far more likely to stumble across my book on Amazon.

    I’m sure Apple will iron out some of these kinks in time, but for now, Amazon is a much better marketplace.

    Anyway, that’s just one other author’s experience. Make of it what you will.

    Daniel Pyle