According to a recent report released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, publishers distributing digital issues have seen a significant year-end drop in sales of iPad editions. Vanity Fair sold only 8,700 digital issues in Nov. compared to an average of over 10K in the previous 3 months, Wired fell from 100,000 issues to only 23,000 issues in November and so on.

“WWD reports that Vanity Fair sold 8,700 digital editions of its November issue, down from an average of about 10,500 for the previous three months. Glamour sold 4,300 digital copies in September, but sales fell by 20% in October and then another 20% to 2,775 in November. GQ‘s November edition sold 11,000 copies, its worst sales figures since the iPad was released.”

After significant iPad sales this holiday season these figures may go up—something every iPad publisher expects. The Apple tablet has attracted very large publishers, including Rupert Murdoch who dedicated an entire team to an upcoming iPad-exclusive magazine: “The Daily”.

In addition to The Daily, others like CNN are tapping into the iPad audience. The news powerhouse launched an iPad app available for $2.99 which we covered here, while Time Inc. and Apple partnered up to offer free digital iPad issues for print subscribers. Conde Nast is also targeting iPad readers; the publisher recently released a list of findings and best practices they uncovered based on their own iPad efforts.