Meanwhile, audiobook sales now amount to over one billion U.S. dollars in revenue, and the number of titles produced also grows each year. E-book sales are also on the up, though print will remain the dominant format for many years to come.
Sales from retail bookstores
From a retail standpoint the market has seen sweeping changes in recent years. Although book stores in the U.S. are still bringing in several billion U.S. dollars annually, online retailers such as Amazon continue to restrict the ability of large physical retail chains to compete. Even major booksellers are affected, with Barnes & Noble having been acquired by an investment management firm and later suffering hundreds of store closures in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.The future of the book market
In 2020, U.S. book revenue grew across multiple categories, and despite the gains in digital book sales, print remains dominant. Over three billion U.S. dollars of the 8.6 billion dollar total was derived from hardback books, and paperback and mass market book sales revenue also increased year-over-year. Meanwhile, physical audio revenue has been dropping since 2017.Print will continue to be the dominant revenue driver for the U.S. book market for years to come, whereas in the meantime, audiobook and e-book revenue must gain significant ground before it can compete with hardback and paperback sales. Print media may not be as prosperous as it once was, but the book industry is healthier than popular opinion may suggest, and printed books in particular remain popular among readers both in the United States and other major markets around the world.
