Book sales were up 1.8% in October at the 1,225 publishers that supply data to the Association of American Publishers’ StatShot program. Results were buoyed by strong sales in higher education course materials, which were up 17.9%, and at religious presses, which saw a 12.2% bump, in conjunction with a 1.5% increase in sales of adult books.
Adult books saw drops in both its major categories, with a 2.2% decline in hardcover sales and a 0.6% dip in paperback sales. But the category was helped by a 13.1% plunge in returns, as well as another strong showing for digital audio, up 9.5%.
The children's and young adult sector was down 1.9% in the month, with hardcover sales down 5.8%. Paperback and board books both saw bumps, of 11% and 3.7%, respectively.
Sales of professional books plummeted 20.6% in the month. Sales of university presses rose 17.9%.
For the first 10 months of the year, total sales were up 0.7% over the comparable period in 2022 with sales of adult books increasing 0.8%, while sales of children's/YA were down 4.6%.
