Adult trade sales rose 8.4% in January compared to January 2012, but sales in the children’s/young adult category fell 23.5%, according to figures released this morning by the AAP in its BookStats program. Sales of adult e-books rose 10.1% in the month, to $110.1 million, confirming the continuing slowdown in the growth of the e-book market. In January 2012, adult e-book sales rose 49.4% over January 2011. Sales of adult hardcovers and paperbacks this January rose 8.3%, and 10.6%, respectively, in the month.
In children’s/young adult, e-book sales fell 36.2%, while hardcovers dropped 29.3%; both reflect the strong showing made by The Hunger Games trilogy in January 2012.
In other adult categories, mass market paperback sales fell 2.9% in January, sales of physical audio declined 8.4%, but sales of downloadable audio rose 22%. In January, downloadable audio sales exceeded sales of physical audio with downloads totaling $10.1 million and physical $6.7 million.
In other major categories in January, sales of religious books fell 8.2%, sales of professional books rose 3.0%, K-12 instructional material sales rose 1.5%, and sales of higher education materials increased 9.8%.
Figures are based on responses from 1,195 publishers.
