After posting a 25% increase in sales last October over October 2016, sales in the adult trade group settled down in November. According to AAP’s StatShot report, adult book sales fell 2.2% in November compared to a year ago. Sales of mass market paperbacks declined 36.7% and e-book sales dropped 5.1%. Downloadable audio sales, however, jumped 45.2% in the month.
In the first 11 months of 2017, sales of adult books were up 2.9% over the comparable period in 2016. The downloadable audio category had the biggest gain, with sales up 28.0%. Among the print segments, hardcover sales were up the most, by 11.0%. E-book sales from reporting publishers were down 5.4%.
In the children’s/young adult category, November sales were down 8.2% compared to November 2016, with hardcover and e-book sales particularly weak, down 17.3% and 20.0%, respectively. For the first 11 months of 2017, sales in the category declined 3.0% compared to 2016, with only board books posting an increase, with sales up 5.1%.
For the 1,212 publishers who report to AAP, sales were down 5.4% in November, but up 1.1% compared to the same periods in 2016.
