A new survey shows that self-published novels account for 20 percent of crime, science fiction, romance and humor eBooks sold in UK in 2012.

Bowker Market Research has released a new set of statistics which reveal that self-published novels account for 20 percent of crime, science fiction, romance and humor eBooks sold in UK in 2012

The report also reveals that though self-published books contribute to only 2 percent of all the books published in the UK in 2012, when printed books were removed it accounted for 12 percent of the books sold in the UK last year. When only adult fiction and non-fiction eBooks were taken into consideration, self-published books showed a 14 percent share in the market. However, when genres like the crime, science fiction, romance and humor were considered, self-publishing accounted for more than 20% of the market but only 3 percent of the children's eBook market was self-published.

The statistics were revealed by Steve Bohme, UK research director at Bowker who was speaking the Literary Consultancy conference Writing in a Digital Age, where self-publishing came in for a slating from Andrew Franklin, the managing director of Profile Books. "The overwhelming majority [of self-published books] are terrible - unutterable rubbish," said Franklin. "They don't enhance anything in the world."

Bohme also revealed that women were more likely to buy self-published eBooks than men, with 68 percent of buyers of self-published book buyers being women. On the whole, women account for 58 percent of male buyers in the UK - more than the 58 percent of female readers buying books as a whole.