This report, by Piotr Kowalczyk, originally appeared on Ebook Friendly on 1/14/12.
Will self-published books continue to expand? Is $0.99 price tag wearing out? Can we expect new success stories from independent authors?
2011 was an exciting year for publishing, full of events changing the landscape of the industry. Self-publishing exploded and became one of the most important factors to shape digital publishing in the near future.
I’m excited to share the report with as much facts and figures as possible to help forecast how the self-publishing phenomenon would evolve in the years to come. To get the bigger picture, read also 2011 self-publishing timeline.
The report is based on figures from Kindle Store bestsellers archive and consists of five parts. You can jump directly to each one of them from the links below:
1. Highlights – most important facts & figures
2. Tables & charts – based on yearly and monthly lists
3. Description – how the data was collected
4. Overview – analysis of important events and trends
5. Conclusions – predictions for the future
1. Highlights
Average price of a self-published book in 2011 was $1.40, vs. $8.26 for all books in Top 100
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There is a downward trend in both the number of books and the average price
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John Locke is the author with the highest number of books in a single monthly list – 8 titles
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Five authors stayed in Top 100 for at least 6 months – Barbara Freethy, Darcie Chan, John Locke, J.R. Rain and Michael Prescott
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There are 18 self-published titles in a yearly Top 100 for 2011 (not a single self-published book in Top 100 for 2010)
2. Tables & charts
Table 1: Self-published books in Top 100: Summary Jan-Dec 2011
Data collected from Kindle Store Bestsellers Archive monthly lists. Click on months for detailed tables.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| No. of self-pub books in Top 100: | 13 | 26 | 27 | 26 | 22 | 13 | 17 | 26 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 13 |
| No. of self-pub books in Top 50: | 8 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 4 |
| No. of self-pub books in Top 10: | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Best self-pub book ranked at: | 6 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 19 | 6 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 6 |
| No. of $0.99 self-pub books: | 7 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 10 | 11 | 19 | 12 | 11 | 14 | 11 |
| Share of $0.99 self-pub books: | 54% | 65% | 59% | 62% | 82% | 77% | 65% | 73% | 60% | 55% | 78% | 85% |
| Average price of a self-pub book: |
$1.99 | $1.72 | $1.62 | $1.62 | $1.58 | $1.61 | $1.71 | $1.68 | $1.53 | $1.70 | $1.38 | $1.34 |
| Most expensive self-pub book: | $3.99 | $3.99 | $3.99 | $3.99 | $4.99 | $4.99 | $3.99 | $3.99 | $2.99 | $4.61 | $2.99 | $3.49 |
Chart 1: Number of self-published books in Top 100: Jan-Dec 2011
Based on data from Table 1.
Read the rest of the report, which includes many more tables and charts as well as detailed analysis, on Ebook Friendly.