I know I said this yesterday and last week, but now John Grisham has said it too.
He was commenting in the Wall Street Journal about the first week’s sales of his new novel The Confession. It seems the number of hardcover sales were well below the first week’s sales of his previous novel The Associate, way back in February of 2009.
Here’s what surprised Grisham and his publisher: the ebook sales of 70,000 units more than made up for the fewer number of hardcover sales. More people were reading his book even though fewer people were buying the hardcover.
“The e-book sales are astonishing,” says Grisham. “Would anybody have thought that a year ago? The future has arrived, and we’re looking at it.”
With the hardcover at $30 bucks and the Kindle e-book at $9.99, it’s not hard to see why e-book sales are taking off.
Grisham’s publisher, Doubleday, has printed 1.5 million hardcovers instead of the 2.8 million that they had originally planned to print. Good call.
And hey, think of all the trees they saved, and the trucks that aren’t farting around the country delivering boxes of books.
I’m breathing easier already. I like the future.
