Overall volumes sold were down to 56.6 million on the previous year, while the value dropped even further by 9.3 per cent on 2011, falling beneath the $1bn marker to $978m.

The three books in the 50 Shades series were responsible for five per cent of all books sold in Australia last year, selling almost three million copies here. Worldwide they sold 65 million. The non-fiction list in Australia was headed by Jamie Oliver’s 15 Minute Meals with 312,000 books.

PMP was the main beneficiary of the 50 Shades phenomenon, with its Griffin Press producing the book for publisher Random House, and farming out work to a host of grateful cover printers and embellishers.  Griffin has so far printed 1.3 million of the first in the series, with orders still coming in.

While printed books decline in volume overall book sales are up with digital media enabling multi-platform delivery. Publishers and booksellers are now increasingly looking to the tablet format to supply books, believing the dedicated e-reader format has peaked, and that the multi-app tablet devices will be the format of choice.

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