MAIN NEWS HEADLINES

March 1-15, 2005 Edition

Book Publishing

Sales Total $23.7

Billion in 2004

New York, NY/02/24/05—Net sales for the entire United States publishing industry are estimated to have increased by 1.3 percent from 2003 to 2004 to a grand total of $23.72 billion, according to figures just released by the Association of American Publishers (AAP). Overall, trade sales rose 1.9 percent, with sales of $5.16 billion. Adult trade hardbound gained 6.3 percent ($2.61 billion), while paperbound sales were also up 2.8 percent ($1.51 billion). Juvenile hardbound sales were down 16.7 percent ($581 million), however, paperbound sales were up 3.8 percent with sales of $465.6 million.

El-Hi (elementary/high school) sales were up 0.1 percent ($4.30 billion), while higher education sales rose 1.8 percent, with sales of $3.45 billion. Standardized test sales grew by 12.4 percent ($923.9 million).

Sales of professional and scholarly books were up 2.0 percent in 2004, with sales of $4.06 billion. Book clubs and mail order publications (down 8.9 percent, with sales of $1.18 billion) and mass market paperback sales (down 8.9 percent, with sales of $1.11 billion) all lost ground in 2003. Publishing sales of religious books (which includes many self help texts) grew 5.6 percent in 2004 totalling $1.33 billion. “Other” book publishing sales were up 5.0 percent ($2.20 billion) emphasizing the overall growth in publishing sales through this catchall designation.

For a complete list of the preliminary estimated book publishing industry net sales for 2004, please use link below.

The sales figures in this report were prepared by Management Practice Inc. based on year-to-date data in the AAP 2004 December Monthly Sales Report, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Census of Manufacturers and other statistical data.