E-book Sales Could Reach 20-25% of Total Book Market 2012

ArtTracker| Self-publishing is on the rise. Posting now that Starbucks is creating it’s own digital content network, the WSJ writes that digital self-publishing is shaking up the traditional book industry. 

U.S. book sales fell 1.8% last year to $23.9 billion, but e-book sales tripled to $313 million, according to the Association of American Publishers. E-book sales could reach as high as 20% to 25% of the total book market by 2012, according to Mike Shatzkin, a publishing consultant, up from an estimated 5% to 10% today.

Springwise Publishing announces IndieReader, providing a “venue for you to find and purchase books published and produced by the people who wrote them.”

Self-published authors begin by sending their books to New Jersey-based IndieReader for vetting—reviewers for the site include editors, literary agents, publicists and assorted other book lovers. They then pay an annual fee of USD 149 for their first book; if the book is not accepted, IndieReader refunds all but its USD 25 submission fee, which is also the price for selling subsequent books through the site. If their book is accepted, however, it goes up for sale on IndieReader, where shoppers can browse by genre or author name or among recent releases. When a consumer makes a purchase, IndieReader notifies the author by email and the author ships the book out. IndieReader pays authors 75 percent of the sales of their books at the end of each month, plus the shipping fees paid by buyers.

Amazon also maintains a self-publishing unit. via Springwise