Self-Publishing Movement Continues Strong Growth in U.S.

Analysis of U.S. ISBN data via Bowker reveals that the number of self-published titles jumped to over 390,000.  This is up 59 percent over previous year, and over 400 percent above 2007 numbers.  

Ebooks comprised 40 percent of the ISBNs that were self-published in 2012, compared to sales of just 11 percent back in 2007.

More than 80 percent of self-published titles were brought to market with support from just eight companies, which include Smashwords and Amazon’s CreateSpace.

What direction are ebook sales heading?

Publisher’s Weekly posted an article about the possibility of buying ebooks directly from grocery, drug, and other storefronts in the coming months.  This is all due to a deal between Txtr, the German ebook company with backing from 3M and ReaderLink.  The plan is to sell the inexpensive Txtr Beagle ebook readers at stores such as Wal-Mart and Walgreens.

According to the Txtr Beagle website http://us.txtr.com/beagle/

the beagle downloads ebooks via Bluetooth from a smartphone and will have enough power via two AA batteries for up to one year, based on reading 12-15 books.

You can read up to five ebooks at any one time on the beagle. This doesn’t mean that you are limited to only reading those five books; you can store an unlimited number of ebooks on your txtr cloud library.

The Beagle weighs just 4.5 ounces; has a small 5-inch Electronic Ink screen; and has 800 x 600 pixel resolution.  The Beagle was originally announced as costing only $13 in the US, but now It seems that the $13 price is only being offered in Europe as a phone subsidy package.  The Beagle as of right now will be available in the US for $69.99.