Due to some reporting problems with the January data in the trade segment, the AAP has issued revised sales for the adult and children’s/young adult categories. As a result of the revisions, sales of adult print and e-books did better than previously reported, while the decline in the children’s/ya segment was slightly less than the original figures. There were no changes to sales outside of the trade area.
Sales of adult books rose 7.3% in January over January 2014 driven by a 15.5% increase in hardcover sales and an 18.5% gain in trade paperback sales. Sales of mass market paperback dropped 11.6%. Sales of e-books fell, though slightly less than first reported; sales were down 2.1% in the month and e-books accounted for 28.9% of adult book revenue in January 2015, compared to 31.7% last January. There was a big difference in sales of audio. Instead of increasing in the month, sales of physical audio fell 5.8%, while sales of downloadable audio still had a strong gain, 25.2%.
In children’s/YA, sales fell 1.1%, due entirely to the decline of e-books, which fell 35.0% (compared to the original figure of 37.4%). Print sales were up in the month. E-books accounted for 11.2% of January sales in the category, down from 17.0% in January 2014.
