The Impact of Digitization on Print Book Sales: Analysis using Genre Exposure Heterogeneity

Abstract

We study whether digitization, sparked by the launch of Amazon Kindle in late 2007, led to a reduction in print book sales. To estimate the impact, we exploit the quasi-experimental variation in the popularity of digital books across different genres or sub-genres such as fiction, non-fiction, juvenile, or religion. We employ a difference-in-differences identification strategy and use print sales data on almost the entire population of book titles published in the United States between 2004-15 across a variety of genres. We find that, on average, digitization decreased print sales of adult fiction books (the most popular genre in the e-book format) by about 30%. We also find that the effect is higher after the launch of the iPad, and stronger for the paperback version and low-selling books.