July was a good month for the publishing industry’s trade segments, according to sales figures from AAP’s StatShot program. Sales from reporting publishers increased 10.9% in the month, compared to July 2014, in the adult book category. Sales in the children’s/young adult segment rose 11.5%.
The increase in the adult category was driven by a 43% increase in sales of hardcovers, led by the publication of Go Set a Watchman. Trade paperback sales also rose in the month, but mass market paperback sales fell 23.9% and e-book sales dropped 6.7%.
For the first seven months of 2015, sales in the adult book segment were up 4.2% led by gains in trade paperback, a format that is benefitting from the boom in adult coloring book sales. E-book sales in the seven month period were down 4.7%.
The 11.5% July increase in children’s/young adult sales marks a turnaround for the category which has suffered from comparisons with strong sales of Divergent in the first part of 2014. July’s gain was led by sales of board books (up 27.1%), and paperbacks (ahead 23.6%) which offset a 39.0% decline in e-book sales.
For the first seven months of 2015, sales in the children’s/young adult segment were still down 8.9% with declines in hardcover and e-books countering gains in sales of board books and paperbacks.
Across all publishing segments, July sales were up 2.8% but sales in the year to date fell 2.0%.
Sales for AAP StatShot are based on reports from over 1,200 publishers.
