Trade sales for the first six months of 2012 rose 13.1%, to $2.33 billion, according to figures released this morning by the Association of American Publishers as part of its StatShot program. Total industry sales were up 4.4% in the period, to $5.79 billion.
The figures come from data from 1,186 companies.
Within trade, which the AAP classifies as including adult, children’s, religion and university press, the children’s/young adult segment had the strongest gain with sales up 40.7% boosted by strong sales of the Hunger Games trilogy. Adult fiction and nonfiction sales rose 8.3%, with the Fifty Shades series leading the way. Sales in the religion category were down 9.2%, while university press sales rose 5.5%.
By format, adult e-book sales jumped 34.4%, to $621.3 million at companies that report to AAP, moving e-books ahead of hardcover as the second largest adult format. Hardcover sales were up 2.1% in the first six months, to $556.2 million. Trade paperback remained the largest segment as sales rose 5.2%, to $720.8 million. The size of the mass market paperback business continued to shrink, however, with sales off 20.3%, to $198.9 million.
In the children’s segment, hardcover led the way among print formats with sales up 37.1% followed by paperback and board books which had gains of 12.9% and 12.7%, respectively in the period. Sales of e-books jumped 251%, to $146.4 million, a figure that trailed hardcover (sales of $387.4 million) and paperback ($266.4 million).
