Top Selling Ebooks of 2004 Announced

Posted on January 24, 2005

The Open eBook Forum (OeBF), an ebook industry trade and standards organization, has released its annual list of Top Selling ebooks. Dan Brown dominated the 2004 list with The Da Vinci Code topping the list and Brown's Angels & Demons and Deception Point rounding out the top three. At the same time, the industry reported continued growth, with eBook revenues for the third quarter of 2004 up 25% and eBook units sold up 11% over the same quarter in 2003.

The OeBF 2004 eBook Bestseller List includes the bestselling eBooks reported from the leading ebook retailers and distributors including eBooks.com, eReader.com, Fictionwise.com, Mobipocket.com and OverDrive. The top 10 bestselling ebooks were:

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday - $14.95)
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (PocketBooks - $6.99)
Deception Point by Dan Brown (PocketBooks - $6.99)
Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (St. Martin's Press - $5.99)
Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear (Del Rey - $6.99)
Holy Bible, New International Version - International Bible Society (Zondervan - $14.99)
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov (Spectra - $4.99)
Electronic Pocket Oxford English Dictionary & Thesaurus Value Pack (Oxford University Press - $19.95)
Darwin's Children by Greg Bear (Del Rey - $6.99)
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (Merriam-Webster - $25.95)

Scott Adams, the creator of the popular Dilbert cartoon strip and books, said, "ebooks have been a substantial portion of my total book sales. I've reached a lot of readers who don't like the higher cost of hardcover books." Mr. Adams' self-published ebook version of God's Debris is #19 on the bestseller list.

A significant percentage of the ebook bestsellers for 2004 can also be found on year-end print bestseller lists indicating ebook purchasing is following the diversity of mainstream reading habits. The full 30 bestsellers for 2004 can be found on the OeBF website at http://www.openebook.org/bestseller/year04.htm.

The OeBF also released details of its Q3 eBook Statistics Report. Compiled from data submitted by 23 ebook publishers and retailers, the findings revealed that revenues in Q3 2004 increased 25% over the same period in 2003. The study also found that a total of 419,962 ebooks were sold in Q3 2004 alone, an 11% increase over the same period in 2003, during which time 377,095 ebooks were sold.

The Open eBook Forum is an international non-profit trade and standards organization for the electronic publishing industry. The organization is supported by membership dues and the support of Adobe Systems, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, OverDrive, Inc. and eReader.com.