Sales of adult trade books in the first nine months of 2017 inched up 0.4% from the same period in 2016, according to estimates released by the AAP’s StatShot program. Sales in the children’s/young adult segment were 3.5% lower in the period than in the same stretch a year earlier. In the adult segment, sales of hardcovers were up 7.3% from the first nine months of 2016, but sales in the other print segments fell. Downloadable audio sales were 24.2% higher than in the previous year, but e-book sales were 5.5% lower at publishers that report results to the AAP. In the children’s/YA segment, hardcover sales were down 8% in the first nine months of 2017, and e-book sales declined 11.5%. Both formats were affected by the huge sales of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child last year. January–September sales for all 1,204 publishers that supply figures to AAP were down 0.5% from to the same period in 2016.
| Category | Change Sept. | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| Adult Hard | 2.0% | 7.3% |
| Adult Paper | -5.4% | -1.3% |
| Mass Market | -22.4% | -13.2% |
| Physical Audio | -7.6% | -6.7% |
| Audio Download | 19.1% | 24.2% |
| Adult E-book | -6.1% | -5.5% |
| Children’s/YA | -8.2% | -3.5% |
| Religious Presses | -16.6% | -3.3% |
| Professional | 33.7% | 6.2% |
| K–12 Materials | -10.0% | -3.8% |
| Higher Ed. | -13.9% | 2.0% |
| University Presses | 6.8% | 4.6% |
(Comparisons of $ sales against same periods in 2016)
