Another Sign Children’s Digital Publishing Is Turning a Corner
At a press review of its digital publishing capabilities at Book Expo America, Disney Publishing put on an impressive show.
According to the company, Disney is the largest children’s book publisher in the world, selling over 700 million books a year in 85 countries and 75 languages. On the digital side, it’s much smaller at 3 million e-books and 8 million apps downloaded by readers.
The company, however, saw something recently that it considered astounding.
In the first two weeks of sales for The Serpent’s Shadow, a new title in a series by Rick Riordan that came out on May 1, 30% of the sales were digital.
“That’s a first for us,” said Lyle Underkoffler, vice president of digital media for Disney Publishing.
Another interesting stat from Disney: over half of its 11 million digital units sold worldwide are sold outside of the U.S.
With the rise of tablets around the world and increased adoption rates for digital reading outside the U.S., these indicators may point to a very bright future for children’s digital reading.
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Parents Prefer Reading Print Books With Their Children, Survey Says
Thank you for the story. It’s another reminder that publishing e-versions of Rifll’s books needs to be nearer the top of the to-do list.