Publishers’ Overall U.S. Books Sales Down 5.6% YTD But Downloaded Audio Booms, Up 33% YTD

Here are some new statistics released today by the Association of American Publishers.
From AAP:

Publishers’ book sales for January thru April were down 5.6% for the year to date at $3.0 billion compared to $3.2 billion for the same four months last year. Adult Books and Professional Books continued their growth this year, adding 2.3% and 3.1% respectively compared to last April.
Total revenues for the publishers were down 3.3% for the month compared to April 2014. These numbers include sales for all tracked categories (Trade-fiction/non-fiction, K-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses). The monthly statistics (#AAPStats) are tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and include sales from more than 1,200 publishers
Trade
After slight growth last month, sales in Trade Books were down 2.9% for the month, and 2.1% year-to-date. While Adult Books have grown 3.5% year-to-date, Children’s & Young Adults and Religious presses were down 15.1% and 9.2% respectively compared to Jan – April 2014.
Downloaded audio continues to grow at a very healthy pace, with 33.3% growth through April. Hardback Adult Books did well this April, with 15.8% growth compared to last April. However, the growth of hardbacks is unique to the Adult Books category, since the format is down in other categories and is down 4.0% year-to-date. Ebooks are also down year-to-date by 9.3%.
Educational Materials
Revenues for PreK-12 instructional materials were up in April by 15.1%, resulting in 0.5% year-to-date growth. Higher Education course materials were down 31.6% year-to-date.
Professional and Scholarly Publishing
Sales for Professional Publishing, which includes business, medical, law, scientific and technical books and journals, are up 13.3% compared to the time in 2014. However, University Presses were down 6.6%.
* NOTE: Figures represent publishers’ net revenue for the U.S. (i.e. what publishers sell to bookstores, direct to consumer, online venues, etc.), and are not retailer/consumer sales figures.

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), News, Publishing