The Digital Book World E-Book Best-Seller list tracks e-book sales ranking and price data across six major e-book retailers with the goal of providing the most accurate picture of which e-books are most often purchased by consumers and at what price point. The full methodology is available here.
The average price of a best-selling ebook fell dramatically this week to $6.39 after hovering around $8.00 for about a month.
The price fall was driven primarily by retailer discounting. Many titles that were selling for around $10.00 were discounted below $8.00 this week.
John Grisham’s “Sycamore Row” (Penguin Random House) was No. 1 on the list this week at $6.59; it held the top spot last week, too, at $11.99. Stephen King’s “Doctor Sleep” (Simon & Schuster) is No. 16 this week at $7.64; last week it ranked at No. 11, selling for $10.99.
Retailers also discounted ebooks that were priced below $8.00 to even lower levels. Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game” (Macmillan) is No. 4 this week at $2.90; it was ranked at No. 3 last week for $3.98.
The sales could have something to do with the holidays or the price wars between retailers that we have come to know.
In related news, Amazon Publishing titles and some self-published titles made it onto the list this week, including J.R. Rain’s “Silent Echo” from Amazon, which is currently sitting at No. 2 on the list. The big-five publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster) have come to dominate the list of late with big fall releases and price promotions on popular back-list titles.
E-book best-sellers from the week ending 11/10:
1. “Sycamore Row”, John Grisham, Penguin Random House, $6.59
2. “Silent Echo”, J.R. Rain, Amazon, $4.99
3. “The Book Thief”, Markus Zusak, Penguin Random House, $2.90
4. “Ender’s Game: 1 (The Ender Quintet)”, Orson Scott Card, Macmillan, $2.90
5. “Allegiant”, Veronica Roth, HarperCollins, $6.99
6. “Dark Witch: Book One of The Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy”, Nora Roberts, Penguin Random House, $4.79
7. “The Husband’s Secret”, Liane Moriarty, Penguin Random House, $5.99
8. “Divergent”, Veronica Roth, HarperCollins, $3.99
9. “Things We Set on Fire”, Deborah Reed, Amazon, $4.99
10. “Killing Jesus: A History”, Bill O’Reilly; Margin Dugard, Macmillan, $10.91
See the complete list of this week’s top-25 e-book best-sellers at Digital Book World.
Jeremy Greenfield is responsible for managing all editorial content on DigitalBookWorld.com, including the DBW Expert Publishing Blog, the Digital Book Wire and editorial email and social media communications. Prior to joining Digital Book World in October 2011, Jeremy spent three years as a careers editor at FINS.com. Jeremy lives and works in New York City and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.