First-quarter e-book sales were down 2.5% and 36.6% in the adult and children’s/young adult categories, respectively, according to figures in AAP’s StatShot program. With sales of hardcover and paperback also down, first quarter sales in the children’s/ya category fell 15.9%.
In adult books, the decline in e-book sales was offset by increases in paperback and audiobook and sales for the entire category rose 3.4% in the quarter.
At the end of the quarter, e-books accounted for 30.0% of adult book sales down from 31.8% at the end of the first quarter of 2014. E-books accounted for 12.6% of first quarter 2015 children's/ya sales, down from 16.7% in last year’s first period. Combining adult and children’s/ya results, e-book sales were down 8.1% in the quarter.
The StatShot figures are based on sales from 1,210 publishers.
