Every month, I get the newsletter of the Bremen house of literature, announcing readings, book launches and other literary events in the city of Bremen.
In the current edition of the newsletter, the following item caught my eye: An information event about e-books at a branch of the city library. Among other things, a local crime writer will be talking about the advantages and disadvantages of e-books and digital publishing, there will be some information about the e-book lending program at the Bremen city library (They have one. I find this encouraging) and attendants will be given the chance to testdrive an e-reader. This should give anybody wondering about low e-book sales in continental Europe an idea about the current state of the e-book market.
I probably would have attended the event, if only because the contacts might be useful. But unfortunately I have an important teachers’ meeting at my school on the same date. Plus, the city library branch in question is the one in Vegesack, which is at least an hour’s drive away. For you see, Bremen is a very long and narrow city stretching along the banks of the river Weser and Vegesack is exactly on the other end of the city.
Now that another month is over, it’s time for the monthly e-book sales figures. Sales in June were down compared to April and May. But then, the US already seems to have vanished into their summer holidays and much of Europe was occupied by the Euro 2012. However, June 2012 also marks the first time I broke into the Spanish and Italian market respectively.
In June 2012, I sold 13 e-books across all platforms. The detailed breakdown is as follows:
Amazon.com: 6
Amazon UK: 5
Amazon Italy: 1
Amazon Spain: 1
One thing I’ve noticed after almost a year of e-publishing is that sales at Amazon.com tend to fluctuate a lot more than those at the other Amazons. My UK sales usually remain steady at 4 or 5 per month, while sales at the continental European Amazons as well as at other markets are sporadic. But whether a given month is good or bad or middling almost always depends on the Amazon.com sales.
Don’t forget that our one year e-publishing anniversary is coming up in a few days. Expect some free goodies.
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