Association of American Publishers Reports (AAP) Overall Publishing Industry Down 6.4% for Calendar Year 2022, and 10.0% for Month of December

From the  Association of American Publishers Reports (AAP):

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for December 2022 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing. 

Total revenues across all reported categories for December 2022 were down 10.0% as compared to December 2021, coming in at $995.9 million. Year-to-date revenues were down 6.4%, at $12.6 billion for the year of 2022.

Trade (Consumer Books) Revenues

Calendar 2022

Trade revenues were down 6.2%, at $9.1 billion for the calendar year. Hardback revenues were down 13.9%, coming in at $3.2 billion; Paperbacks were up 1.1%, with $3.3 billion in revenue; Mass Market was down 25.5% to $181.6 million; and Special Bindings were down 8.1%, with $206.4 million in revenue.

eBook revenues were down 6.6% as compared to 2021 for a total of $1.0 billion. The Downloaded Audio format was up 7.0%, coming in at $839.5 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 29.8% coming in at $15.8 million.

December 2022

Trade (Consumer Books) sales were down 6.3% in December, coming in at $759.2 million.

In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of December, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were down 12.1%, coming in at $266.3 million; Paperbacks were down 1.3%, with $274.7 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 43.7% to $10.7 million; and Special Bindings were down 3.4%, with $20.7 million in revenue.

eBook revenues were down 10.2% for the month as compared to December 2021 for a total of $75.8 million. The Downloaded Audio format was up 6.8% for December, coming in at $72.5 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 14.2% coming in at $1.2 million.

Religious Presses

Calendar 2022

For the calendar year 2022, religious press revenues were down 6.1%, reaching $757.7 million. Hardback revenues were down 6.6% at $452.5 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were down 9.7% to $126.3 million, eBook revenues were down 12.4% at $55.2 million, and Downloaded Audio revenues were up 5.6% at $42.0 million. 

December 2022

Religious press revenues were down 5.0% in December, coming in at $60.4 million. Hardback revenues were down 2.4% to $35.8 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were down 20.0% to $10.7 million, eBook revenues were down 9.8% coming in at $3.8 million, and Downloaded Audio revenues were up 14.7% at $3.1 million.

Education

Calendar 2022

Calendar year 2022 Higher Education Course Materials revenues were $2.9 billion, down 7.5% compared to 2021.

December 2022

During December 2022 revenues from Higher Education Course Materials were $163.6 million, down 27.0% compared with December 2021. 

Professional Books

Calendar 2022

Professional Books revenues for calendar year 2022 were $457.4 million, down 5.5% as compared to 2021.

December 2022

Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, were down 19.4% during the month of December, coming in at $53.0 million

About the StatShot Report

AAP StatShot reports the monthly and yearly net revenue of publishing houses from U.S. sales to bookstores, wholesalers, direct to consumer, online retailers, and other channels. StatShot draws revenue data from approximately 1,372 publishers, although participation may fluctuate slightly from report to report. 

StatShot reports are designed to give ongoing revenue snapshots across publishing sectors using the best data currently available. The reports reflect participants’ most recent reported revenue for current and previous periods, enabling readers to compare revenue on both a month-to-month and year-to-year basis within a given StatShot report.

Monthly and yearly StatShot reports may not align completely across reporting periods, because: a) The pool of StatShot participants may fluctuate from report to report; and b) Like any business, it is common accounting practice for publishing houses to update and restate their previously reported revenue data. If, for example, a business learns that its revenues were greater in a given year than its reports first indicated, it will restate the revenues in subsequent reports to AAP, permitting AAP in turn to report information that is more accurate than previously reported.

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