Even though our world is moving faster and faster towards the digital realm, print books still manage to lead e-books in terms of sales. Nonetheless, sales for the latter category have steadily increased over the past years and it is safe to assume that they will overtake print books sometimes in the near future. We would like to present you with a list we have compiled of the top 7 best selling e-books, based on figures released by publishers for the year 2012. Let’s take a look at the countdown.
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No. 7: A Game of Thrones
Author: George R.R. Martin
Publisher: Bantam
E-books sold: + 400.000
A Games of Thrones was first published in 1996, but it recently gained the spotlight due to the popular TV series. This translated into more than 400.000 e-books sold in 2012. The novel, which is the first in a series of high fantasy writing received several awards over the years and it even reached the number one spot on the New York Bestseller list in 2011.
No. 6: The Racketeer
Author: John Grisham
Publisher: Doubleday
E-books sold: +500.000
The print version of The Racketeer featured on several best-selling lists in 2012, and the e-book format soon followed. This legal thriller was extremely appraised by both critics and the public alike.
No. 5: The Lucky One
Author: Nicholas Sparks
Publisher: Grand Central
E-books sold: +500.000
Although published in 2008, Nicholas Sparks’ The Lucky One is one of the best sold e-books of 2012. This is more than likely due to the interest sparked by the movie with the same name.
No. 4: Reflected in You (Crossfire Series)
Author: Sylvia Day
Publisher: Berkley
E-books sold: +500.000
Erotic romance novels where a big hit in 2012 (you’ll understand this better once you see our number one). Sylvia Day’s Reflected in You, the second book in the Crossfire series, managed to sell more than half a million e-books.
No. 3: Bared to You (Crossfire Series)
Author: Sylvia Day
Publisher: Berkley
E-books sold: +850.000
The first book in Miss. Day’s Crossfire Series, became an instant New York Bestseller and one of the fastest selling paperbacks in recent history. Bared to You also did a good job in the digital world, with more than 850.000 copies sold
No. 2: Gone Girl: A Novel
Author: Gillian Flynn
Publisher: Crown
E-books sold: + 1 million
Flynn’s Gone Girl is an exception on our countdown, as it is the only book to have sold more copies in digital format (+ 1 million) than in print (900 000). It is highly likely that, by the end of 2013, this will be more the norm rather than the exception.
No. 1: Fifty Shades of Grey (Book One, Two, and Three)
Author: E.L. James
Publisher: Vintage
E-books sold: 1.5 million
It really isn’t no surprise that worldwide phenomenon – Fifty Shades of Grey – is the best selling e-book in our countdown. More than 1.5 million copies of the three e-books combined were sold in the year 2012. That must have made Miss. James a very happy lady.
