Sales for the first eight months of 2013 fell 1.1% in adult trade, 15.8% in children’s/young adult, and 3.2% in religion, according to the newest figures from AAP’s StatShot statistics program. Overall results were better in August with adult trade up 8.9%, children’s/ya flat, and religion sales down 2.1%.
The decline in the year-to-date figures in adult trade reflect softness in paperback (sales down 11.6%), slowing growth in e-book sales (up 4.8%) which offset a 11.5% increase in hardcover sales fueled by a 47.8% increase in August. Sales of downloadable audio rose 14.4% in the eight month period, while physical audio dipped 1.1%. In the period adult trade e-book sales totalled $647.7 million, paperback sales (combined trade and mass market) were $898.9 million, and hardcover sales were $778.6 million. E-books accounted for 27.8% of sales in the major adult trade formats in the eight-month period in 2013 compared to 26.5% in the first eight months of 2012.
In children’s/ya, hardcover sales for the January-August period were down 23% and e-book sales dropped 40.1% offsetting a 5.9% gain in paperback sales and gains in sales of board books. In August, the declines in hardcover and e-book were much more moderate, falling 2.2% and 7.6%, respectively.
Results are based on reports from 1,202 publishers.
