Sales of adult books had a slight dip in August in 2017 compared to a year ago, while sales in the children’s/young adult segment rose slightly in the month, according to figures from 1,204 publishers supplied to AAP as part of its StatShot program.
Sales of adult trade books slipped 0.3% in August. The two major print formats, hardcover and trade paperback, had declines in the month of 1.5% and 0.8%, respectively, while mass market paperback sales rose over August 2016 by 10.6%. Downloadable audio had another good month with sales rising 25.0%, but sales of physical audio dropped 12.5%. E-book sales from reporting publishers also had another sales drop, falling 7.9% from last August.
In the children’s/YA segment, sales rose 2.9% over August 2016, led by a 6.6% increase in hardcover sales. Sales of board books continued strong, up 4.2%. E-book sales dipped 2.9%.
For the first eights months of 2017, sales in the adult book segment were up 1.0% over the comparable period in 2016 led by a 25.0% gain in downloadable audio sales and an 8.6% increase in hardcover sales offsetting declines of 11.8% and 5.4%, in the mass market and e-book formats, respectively.
Sales in the children’s/YA segment were down 2.5% in the January-August period from 2016, with hardcover sales falling 8.3% but board books up 9.0%.
Sales for all 1,204 publishers reported to AAP fell 1.5% in August compared to August 2016, and were down 0.6% in the first eight months of the year.
