US book publishers now make more money from online sales than physical stores

The landscape of book sales has undeniably experienced upheaval in recent years – the financial difficulties of major bookstore chains such as Barnes & Noble demonstrate the gravity of these trials. It’s now clear that there is a transition towards a digital and online marketplace for book sales. As revealed by BookStats, US publishers witnessed more revenue generation from online orders and e-books ($7.54 billion) in 2013, overtaking traditional physical retail ($7.12 billion). Despite the difference being marginal, it underscored a significant inclination of the American populace towards online purchasing, even if it involves books they haven’t physically interacted with.

This digital shift, however, isn’t entirely positive for the book industry. BookStats shed light on an interesting trend where e-book sales increased by approximately 10 percent to 512.7 million copies, but the resultant revenue remained stable between 2012 and 2013. This infers that a decrease in prices may have ignited the demand, rather than rekindled interest in digital reading. Researchers also note their data does not include books lacking ISBN numbers, indicating a probable underestimation where many self-published e-books were not considered. Despite the possible data disparity, the course towards digitalisation seems apparent. Still, it’s prudent not to prematurely predict the end of physical bookstores.

Minor enhancements were applied in 2025 for readability.