Josh Howarth at Exploding Topics talks about Publishing Trends for 2021 - 2024.

After giving us a heads up on the size of the industry ($26 billion in revenue in the US alone), Josh Howarth goes on to point out that although print books are still the most popular book format - 65% of people read a print book in 2019 - 25% of adults read an eBook in 2019 and as many as 20% of US consumers listened to an audiobook.

This gives a clear indication that for self-publishing, and hybrid, authors it's well worth spending that extra few hundred dollars to get your eBook out there as well as your paperback.

Even though costs are far higher for audiobook publication than either paperback or eBook, the figures given suggest that for those authors who can afford to do so, they should publish an audiobook as well.

The article also points out that "Aside from Amazon (which controls nearly 50% of the eBook market and hosts 200k audiobooks on Audible) many consumers now get their digital media from public libraries. Two years ago, the numbers reached record highs: 326 million pieces of digital content were downloaded — that was a 20% increase. In 2020, eBook checkouts from libraries soared even higher with a 52% increase year-over-year."

Check out the compete article here:

https://explodingtopics.com/blog/publishing-trends