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.
Readers who waited until December to load up on the year’s hottest books were wise to do so.
Buy the new John Grisham (Penguin Random House) for $3.29 or Donna Tartt’s sensation “The Goldfinch” (Hachette) for $1.79. Buy “Gone Girl” (Penguin Random House) for $3.29 or all five “Game of Thrones” (Penguin Random House) books for $9.99 (a lot of pages for just 10 dollars).
Many of these titles have been deeply discounted, even from last week. “The Goldfinch”, for instance, was $7.99 on the last Digital Book World Ebook Bestseller List.
As a result, the average price of a bestselling ebook this week is $5.27, a new all-time low. The previous low was in early September: $5.41.
Related: Tracking the Downward Trend in E-book Prices
Authors, publishers and agents are still being paid the same amount for each copy of the book by the retailers, meaning that many of these books are being sold at a loss, the aim likely to accrue market share.
While publishers with discounted books are likely moving many copies and shoveling in revenue, they may also be disconcerted with the new perceived value of their wares. Consider a decade ago, for readers to acquire the latest hits from big-name authors within months of their release, they would likely have had to pay $20 to $40 for a hardcover copy.
E-book best-sellers from the week ending 12/8:
1. “The Book Thief”, Markus Zusak, Penguin Random House, $2.49
2. “Sycamore Row”, John Grisham, Penguin Random House, $3.29
3. “The Goldfinch”, Donna Tartt, Hachette, $1.79
4. “Divergent” (“Divergent” Series), Veronica Roth, HarperCollins, $3.99
5. “Allegiant”, Veronica Roth, HarperCollins, $3.49
6. “Takedown Twenty: A Stephanie Plum Novel”, Janet Evanovich, Penguin Random House, $6.49
7. “Insurgent” (“Divergent” Series), Veronica Roth, HarperCollins, $6.99
8. “The Gods of Guilt” (Lincoln Lawyer), Michael Connelly, Hachette, $7.50
9. “Mockingjay” (“The Hunger Games” Series), Suzanne Collins, Scholastic, $6.99
10. “Cross My Heart” (Alex Cross), James Patterson, Hachette, $7.49
See the complete list of this week’s top 25 ebook bestsellers 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.