Sales of adult trade books fell 13.1% in October compared to October 2015, while sales in the children’s/young adult segment rose 1.9%, according to figures released Wednesday morning by the AAP as part of its StatShot program.
The decline in adult trade was led by a 24.1% drop in hardcover sales, the biggest trade format, as well as a 21.0% decline in mass market paperback and a 31.9% drop in the sale of physical audiobooks. Sales of digital audiobooks rose 7.6% in the month over October 2015, and e-book sales were up 2.6%. For the first 10 months of 2016, sales in the adult trade category were down 3.2% compared to the same period a year ago.
The 1.9% increase in the children’s/young adult category was led by a 14.4% gain in board book sales plus a 4.2% rise in paperback. Hardcover sales fell 1.8% compared to a year earlier and e-book sales were off 17.7%. For the first 10 months of 2016, sales in the category were up 4.4% over the January-October span in 2015.
Total October sales of the 1,207 publishers that report to the AAP fell 9.3% in October, and were down 6.4% in the year-to-date.
