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Kindle books outselling iBooks by 60-to-1?

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 24 Aug 2010 12:04 User comments (5)

Kindle books outselling iBooks by 60-to-1?

TNW has put out an interesting article today on Kindle e-book sales compared to iBook sales, going as far as to say that the Kindle still outsells Apple's equivalent by 60-to-1.
In June, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said iBooks had already captured 22 percent of the e-book market, a gigantic number given that the store had just launched. Many were skeptical of Job's number, however.

TNW spoke with J.A. Konrath, a popular author who is a huge fan of the future of e-books, about how well sales are going for him, on both platforms.

Konrath publishes his books on Kindle himself, cutting out publishers that used to take most of his profits. By doing so, and selling his e-books at a very reasonable $3 a piece, Konrath is making over $2 per book sold. When his books were in paperback, he was lucky to make $0.80 for every $10 book sold.



The author compared sales from iBooks, the Kindle, and from paperback: "Publishers might be looking at enriched or enhanced ebooks as their new big-ticket items to replace hardcovers. But the major ebook retailer, Amazon, isn’t set up for video. Kindle isn’t even able to do color yet. That leaves Apple, and according to my numbers Apple is a very small part of the ebook market. I sell 200 ebooks a day on Kindle. On iPad, I sell 100 a month."

Given an average 30-day month, that is 6000 books sold on the Kindle and just 100 through iBooks, a 60-to-1 ratio.

While this is just one author's figures, Job's 22 percent number seems to be misleading, at best.

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5 user comments

124.8.2010 00:06

"In June, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said iBooks had already captured 22 percent of the e-book market, a gigantic number given that the store had just launched. Many were skeptical of Job's number, however."

That is the new "Magical" apple math...1/60=22%

224.8.2010 01:21

For me it's iBooks lack of Star Wars books.

324.8.2010 11:40

Why would you need iBooks when you can buy kindle books on your iPad? lol

424.8.2010 17:23

That's why I don't like the Apple stuff... it can't seem to get simple math correct. Must be a chip flaw or something... LOL

524.8.2010 17:31

kfc do an i-twist ... shouldn't that be the name for all i-devices..

looks like xxxxx.. smells like xxxx .. costs 4x as much!

hahahahahaha

If my hubby had an i-cock.. I would file for divorce on grounds of failure to do his manly duties.. he will be in the bathroom for 3 hours fiddling with it and then it still won't work.. network restriction or insufficient credit for the apps store or some excuse.. and after I went to all that trouble to get him up an at em .. hehehehe ;)

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