Canadians continued to be enamored with reading reading digital books. Over half of all publishers (52%) saw increases in ebook revenue compared with 2020 and just over a quarter of all publishers (28%) saw increases in audiobook revenue in the same period. This bodes well for the digital publishing industry and also companies that sell e-readers and ebooks, such as Amazon and Kobo.

In 2021, revenue from digital books was approximately 40% frontlist and 60% backlist. This is the same as the breakdown of print book sales reported by BNC SalesData, where 40% of the value sold in 2021 were frontlist and 60% were backlist. Most publishers (59%) saw increases in digital book revenue from 2020 to 2021. While small and mid-sized publishers saw the biggest increases, large publishers were the most likely to see decreases.

Where are Canadian publishers selling their e-books to consumers? The most popular e-book retailers were Amazon (76%), Kobo (71%), and Apple (68%). The rest of the channels include Barnes and Noble, Google Play Books and Scribd.

What about audiobook sales? For 28% of publishers, revenue from audiobook sales increased in 2021 when compared to 2020. This is especially true for large and mid-sized publishers — 43% of large publishers and 40% of mid-sized publishers reported increases in audiobook sales in 2021. By comparison, 20% of small publishers reported increases in revenue for audiobooks. Publishers across all sizes reported that audiobook revenue did not change from 2020 to 2021 — 14% of large publishers, 15% of small publishers, and 25% of mid-sized publishers.

In 2021, over half of Canadian publishers produced audiobooks (53%). Most publishers produced audiobooks with the help of a third-party provider (42%), but 19% had in-house facilities to do so.  As you might expect, the majority of the in-house production was done by large publishers (43%), but 21% of mid-sized publishers and 15% of small publishers also did so. Since 2015, the number of publishers producing audiobooks either directly or through a partner has been increasing — from 16% in 2015, to 37% in 2016, and 61% in both 2017 and 2019.

In 2021, as in 2019, the most popular audiobook retailers for public-facing sales were Audible (40%), Apple (39%), and Amazon (37%). The rest of the retail channels include Kobo, Google Play Books, Scribd and audiobooks.com.

These statistics on digital book sales were courtesy of Booknet Canada, that recently conducted a survey. Most of the respondents, 65%, were small publishers with a 2021 gross revenue of under $1 million CDN. The remainder were made up of mid-sized publishers (26%) with revenue between $1M-$9,999,999 and large publishers (9%) with revenue of $10M or more. You can download the full report from the Good e-Reader Bookstore.

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