Self-published Ebooks 20% of UK Genre Sales

How terrible that we have a larger choice of reading material than ever before in human history!

The UK market is a year or two behind the US market in the shift to digital reading, though they are the second highest in the world, and UK ebook sales spiked 134% in 2012 to total £216 million. The impact of indie authors can be seen there too. Now, according to Bowker Market Research, an astonishing 20% of all genre sales go to indies:

Self-published books accounted for more than 20% of crime, science fiction, romance and humour ebooks sold in the UK in 2012, according to newly released statistics. The figures, from Bowker Market Research, show that while self-published books made up a tiny proportion – 2% – of all books purchased last year, this figure increases dramatically, to 12%, when print books are removed from the equation. When just adult fiction and non-fiction ebooks are looked at, self-publishing's share increases to 14% of the market, and in the crime, science fiction, romance and humour genres, self-publishing took more than 20%, according to Steve Bohme, UK research director at Bowker, which tracks book-purchasing trends by interviewing over 3,000 book-buyers a month. Only 3% of children's ebooks, by contrast, were self-published.

Of course, the obligatory Ritual Insulter of Indie Books, speaking for traditional publishers, in this case, Andrew Franklin, rushed to assure everyone that this in no way changes the fact that self-published books are "unutterable rubbish" that "don't enhance anything in the world."

But Franklin, we knew that already. ANYTHING women like to read is considered rubbish: 

Bohme said that price was the reason most cited by readers for the purchase of self-published ebooks. By contrast, price was only the third most important reason for choosing to buy other ebooks, and books as a whole, behind "author" and "subject". And Bohme revealed that women are more likely to buy self-published ebooks than men, with 68% of buyers of DIY ebooks female – more than the 58% of female readers buying books as a whole. Those who bought self-published ebooks were also more likely to be heavy readers, with the statistics from Bowker showing that 61% of buyers of self-published ebooks said they read daily, compared to 37% of buyers of books as a whole.

Franklin also added, as a warning to any would-be indie author, that, "the principle experience of self-publishing is one of disappointment."

Aw. That's touching. I'm sure those 2% indie authors snagging 20% of genre sales are weeping all the way to the bank.