MAIN NEWS HEADLINES

January 26 – February 2, 2006 Edition

Publishing Sales

Continue to Hold

in November

NEW YORK, NY/1/24/06—Publishing sales remained steady in November for most of the categories tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP). Adult Mass Market and Children/YA Paperback saw large gains for the month, while Children’s/YA hardcover saw a drop. Net sales were up 0.2 percent for the month, with sales for the year up 6.4 percent.

The sales figure for the adult hardcover category was up 6.4 percent in November with sales of $163.7 million. This has declined slightly by 0.2 percent in 2005. Adult paperback sales were up by 1.9 percent (sales totaled $100.4 million). Sales for this category have grown 8.2 percent over last year’s sales. The adult mass-market category increased by 44.0 percent with sales totaling $63.3 million for this category; a slight increase of 1.9 percent for the year.

The children’s and young adult hardcover category saw a decline of 19.3 percent in November (sales totaled $42.6 million). This category has done very well in 2005 with sales 68.0 percent greater than last year’s. The children’s and young adult paperback publishing sales saw a solid increase of 16.2 percent with sales totaling $35.7 million. This category is up by 8.6 percent for the year.

Audio book sales rose 5.2 percent in November with sales totaling $15.3 million; year to date sales are 27.8 percent greater than last year’s. E-books sales saw an increase of 117.0 percent in November with total sales of $1.3 million. This category is up 46.8 percent for the year. Religious books posted a decrease of 11.3 percent ($26.6 million); sales were down by 6.3 percent for 2005.

Sales of university press hardcover books showed a 16.1 percent loss in November (sales totaled $7.9 million). This category has lost 31.7 percent year-to-date in 2005. Sales in the university press paperback category gained 35.2 percent with sales totaling $23.7 million; this category has lost 6.8 percent year-to-date in 2005. Sales in the professional and scholarly category saw a dip of 6.1 percent for the month, with sales of $55.5 million. Sales in this category are down by 2.9 percent for the year. Sales of ‘other’ types of books dipped 40.7 percent in November (totaling $1.4 million); this category is down slightly by 1.0 percent for 2005.

Higher education publishing sales saw an 11.0 percent loss in November with sales totaling $183.5 million. This category is up by 5.0 percent for the year. Finally, the net el-hi (elementary/high school) basal and supplemental K-12 category gained 9.7 percent in November, with sales of $123.2 million, allowing for a 10.7 percent year to date growth figure.

The Association of American Publishers is the principal trade association for the U.S.book publishing industry with over 300 members, comprising most of the major commercial book publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and medium-sized houses, non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies.