MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
Nov 8 – Nov 14, 2010 Edition Book Sales Decline 12.1 % in September
NEW YORK, NY/AUTHORLINK NEWS/November 10, 2010 Publishers book sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for the month of September decreased by 12.1 percent on the prior year to $1.1 billion and were up by 3.8 percent for the year to date.
The childrens book category showed decreases over September of last year, with Hardcover Childrens/YA sales down 17.4 percent for the month with sales of $76.6 million in September, and year-to-date sales are down by 15.1 percent. Childrens/YA Paperback sales decreased 1.6 percent in September with sales totaling $53.3 million; sales fell 6.8 percent for the year to date.
The Adult Hardcover category was down 40.4 percent in September with sales of $180.3 million, and sales for the year-to-date down by 8.1 percent. Adult Paperback sales decreased 15.8 percent for the month ($111.5 million) but increased by 1.5 percent for the year so far. Adult Mass Market sales decreased 23.6 percent for September with sales totaling $67.8 million; sales were down by 15.7 percent year to date.
E-book sales continue to grow, with a 158.1 percent increase over September 2009 ($39.9 million); year-to-date E-book sales are up 188.4 percent. Downloaded Audio Books also saw an increase of 73.7 percent over last year, with sales of $7.7 million this September; and the category was also up 34.1 percent year-to-date. Physical Audio Book sales decreased 42.6 percent in September with sales totaling $11.6 million; sales for the year to date are down 12.6 percent.
Religious Books were down 2.5 percent for the month with sales totaling $66.1 million, and sales were down by 0.3 percent for the year to date.
Sales of University Press Hardcover books decreased 4.8 percent in September to $5.1 million; sales increased by 4.1 percent year-to-date. University Press Paperback sales, however, increased 10.6 percent for the month with sales totaling $6.3 million, with sales up 5.5 percent for the year. Sales of Professional books rose 0.7 percent to $58.8 million and were up by 9.6 percent for the year to date.
Higher Education publishing sales increased 2.2 percent for the month ($416.7 million) and increased 10.6 percent for the year. Finally, the K-12 El-Hi (elementary/high school) category posted total net sales of $351.5 million, down 10.0 percent over the prior year, and year-to-date sales of $3.2 billion, a 5.7 percent increase over 2009.
About AAP
The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAPs more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies.
NOTE: All sales figures cited in this release are domestic net sales
