New U.S. Publishing Data From AAP: Book Publisher Revenue Up in April 2018

From the Association of American Publishers:

Publishers’ revenue increased by $172.8 million (+5.5%) for the first four months of 2018 (Jan – April) compared to the same period in 2017. Publisher revenue in April 2018 was up by 4.4% over April 2017. These revenues from AAP’s StatShot Monthly Report, which tracks publisher revenue comparatively each month, represent all tracked categories (Trade – fiction/non-fiction/religious, PreK-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses).
Trade books had the greatest gains in April 2018. Compared to April 2017, revenue was up by 12.2% for Adult Books, 8.3% for Children’s/Young Adult, and 9.8% for Religious Presses. Overall, Trade was up 11.1% in April. Looking at the year-to-date (Jan – April), revenue for Trade was up 7.3% compared to the same time in 2017.
January to April: Trade Book Revenue (in millions)

	Jan. – April 2018	Jan. – April 2017	Percent Change
Adult Fiction/Non-Fiction	$1,519.0	$1,415.5	+7.3%
Children’s/YA	$536.8	$503.3	+6.6%
Religious Presses	$144.6	$131.6	+9.8%
Total	$2,200.3	$2,050.7	+7.3%

Trade Book Formats
Revenue for all print formats was up in April 2018, compared to April 2017. For the year-to-date, print formats comprised $1.6 billion of revenue, up 7.4% from the same timeframe in 2017. Downloaded audio continued its significant growth and revenue for eBooks declined slightly.
Total Trade Net Revenue by Format (in millions)

	Jan. – April 2018	Jan. – April 2017	Percent Change
Hardback	$769.6	$688.5	+11.8%
Paperback & Mass Market	$789.8	$759.1	+1.4%
eBooks	$358.7	$373.0	-3.8%
Downloaded Audio	$137.0	$100.6	+36.1%
Physical Audio	$12.5	$14.1	-11.4%
Board Books	$36.9	$39.0	-5.5%
Other	$95.9	$76.4	+25.5%

January to April 2018: Education and Scholarly Publishing (in millions)

	Jan. – April 2018	Jan. – April 2017	Percent Change
Higher Ed Course Materials	$552.1	$527.8	+4.6%
PreK-12 Instructional Materials	$344.8	$365.3	-5.6%
Professional Books	$176.4	$161.9	+9.0%
University Presses	$17.4	$15.9	+9.5%
Total	$1,090.8	$1,071.0	1.8%

Publisher net revenue is tracked monthly by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and includes revenue from about 1,100 publishers, with participation subject to change over time. AAP also measures the revenue of the overall publishing industry with AAP’s StatShot Annual Report, which was released July 20, 2018 and can be purchased here.

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