Top 7 eBook Publishers in 2013

E-books have taken the world by storm and even though they still have not managed to surpass the traditional paperback books in terms of sales, 2013 has been quite a good year for e-book publishers. But anyone who’s ever worked in the book selling industry knows that, regardless of the particular format of the book – paper or digital – scoring a best-seller is a difficult task. Nonetheless, some publishers out there have done a good job of issuing best-seller after best-seller.

Today, we would like to present you with a list we have compiled of the top e-book publishers in 2013, according to the number of best-sellers they put on the market. The figures used in this countdown were taken from Digital Book World, a website which follows best-selling e-books on a weekly basis. The rankings of the following publishers were determined by adding up the number of best-sellers they have had throughout the year.

Penguin Random House emerged as 2013’s most successful e-book publisher, with a total of 478 best-sellers, which almost double that of the second publisher, Hachette. While Hachette led in terms of sale for the better part of 2013, the merger of Penguin and Random House earlier this year took down to the second spot. According to Digital Book World, Penguin Random House and Hachette were also leaders in terms of no. 1 best-sellers. Penguin Random House scored 8 number one titles, while Hachette once again came in second, with 5 titles.

Apart from the overwhelming success Penguin Random House has had this past year, it is also interesting to note how successful authors who have decided to publish themselves have been. With 99 best-selling titles, indie authors made the number 3 spot in our countdown. What is more, 3 of the number 1 best-selling e-books of 2013 were self published: Wait for You (J. Lynn), Damaged (H. M. Ward), and The Bet (Rachel Van Dyken).

Curious to see who have been the most successful e-book publishers in 2013? Let’s take a look at the countdown.

No. 7: Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Bes sellers in 2013: 46

No. 6: Macmillan

Best sellers in 2013: 68

No. 5: Simon & Schuster

Best sellers in 2013:  72 best-sellers

No. 4: HarperCollins

Best sellers in 2013:  91

No. 3: Self-published

Public Domain Image: Public Domain

Best sellers in 2013: 99

No. 2: Hachette

Best sellers in 2013: 258

No. 1: Penguin Random House*

Best sellers in 2013: 478

*since Penguin and Random House merged in July 2013, the total number of best-sellers was calculated as follows: the number of best-sellers published by Penguin in the first half of 2013, plus the number of best-sellers published by Random House in 2013, plus the number of best-sellers published by Penguin Random House in the second half of 2013