Question about e-book bestsellers list

[Rrty]

I was curious about a list over at Publishers Weekly. It is the Top 20 e-books for 2014. Here is a link:

The Bestselling E-books of 2014

I'm curious why King's books from 2014 are not on the list. Is it because most of his readership eschews buying e-books? Or is there something about this list that would exclude him? As far as I can tell, there isn't, but at first I did think it was only for young adult titles. But then, something else curious: Bill O'Reilly's book from last year wasn't on the list, either? Doesn't make sense.

If anyone has any insight into this, I'd be interested (also, maybe I missed something in the description of this particular sales chart). Perhaps Bev Vincent?

 

[skimom2]

9 out of the 20 are YA or romance (those 2 readerships cross over a lot), 3 are 'status reads' (award winners-I would wager that more than half of those listed were purchased but sit unread on kindles across the world--lol), 4 are 'men's books' by established law fiction writers, 3 are 'women's lit', i.e., family based but not romance, and one genuine break out, cross gender and genre lines, hit (Gone Girl).

This is not a surprising breakdown. Women and romance dominate e-book sales, and have for a while. You can count YA in there, because a phenomenal number of women are deep into YA fiction. What you see here is female dominance of this medium: more than half of the listed titles are purchased primarily by women--they buy most kids' books, too.

Mr. King is considered a genre writer--you don't see a lot of horror/suspense unless it is crime fiction that is selling in e-book form (unless it's free). Despite what we see on this board, horror/suspense is generally regarded as a 'guy thing', especially if it doesn't have a romantic aspect, and especially as we age. Mr. King's audience is aging right along with him, and the older we are (and the more male), the fewer e-books we buy. I certainly don't think Mr. King should hang up his cleats yet--there are still a number of younger readers just getting into him, and maybe in a few years that will push him onto lists like this. But for right now, the only sure way for him to do it is to publish romantic YA under a different name--his 'brand' is set, unfortunately. (I had to work persuade someone to just TRY Dolores Claiborne today--I know she'll love it, but she resisted because, "I don't read horror books." *sigh*)

 

[AchtungBaby]

When I'm on here I always forget there are some folks "out there" not interested in SK.

 

[fljoe0]

The article states that the list is from data provided by the publishers. Maybe SKs publisher did not provide any data. I don't see a single Scribner book on the list.

 

[Rrty]

Skimom, that's a great analysis. Seems it might be a likely answer. Fljoe0, you too bring up a good point, perhaps the publisher does not participate in this chart. AchtungBaby, that is strange isn't it -- why wouldn't more e-book buyers be interested in King? I guess as time moves on an author's base of readers may naturally decline. I suppose, though, as more King projects make their way through the media that there will be upswings.

 

[skimom2]

The article states that the list is from data provided by the publishers. Maybe SKs publisher did not provide any data. I don't see a single Scribner book on the list.

Mr. King is with Simon & Schuster, which has one title on the list. The predominant publisher on this list is Random House, which published a lot of YA, kids' books, and romance/contemporary fiction (which usually translates to domestic stories, targeted at women).

 

[skimom2]

Skimom, that's a great analysis. Seems it might be a likely answer. Fljoe0, you too bring up a good point, perhaps the publisher does not participate in this chart. AchtungBaby, that is strange isn't it -- why wouldn't more e-book buyers be interested in King? I guess as time moves on an author's base of readers may naturally decline. I suppose, though, as more King projects make their way through the media that there will be upswings.

As I said before, it's not that Mr. King's readers have necessarily declined (and I have no idea what the stats are on that), but that his readers in general don't purchase his books in e-book form.

As a writer and editor, as well as a reviewer, analyzing and reviewing trends in publishing is pretty much second nature by now--lol.

 

[Rrty]

Skimom, thanks for the clarification, I didn't fully catch that; I guess I misinterpreted. I suppose I was thinking along the lines of an alternate hypothesis: if King's readership has aged and has not been replaced by younger folk, the ones who use e-devices, could that be an indirect indicator of an audience that has either stayed the same or is, more likely, in decline? At least domestically (internationally, maybe that metric has grown). I really couldn't say, but your point is a good one and most likely the right one.