The trade publishing segment continues to perform well in 2021, with August sales up 15.1% in the adult category and ahead 21.8% in the children’s/young adult segment at publishers that report results to the Association of American Publishers’ StatShot program. Total industry sales for all 1,358 publishers that report data to AAP increased 9.8% over August 2020.
The K-12 instructional materials category continues its rebound from a down 2020, with August sales jumping 34.1%. Sales in the religion category also saw solid improvement in the month compared to a year ago—when many churches and other religious institutions were closed because of lockdowns—with sales increasing 23.2%.
Sales in the higher education category fell 10.6% in the month and slipped 1.8% at university presses. Sales of professional books rose 2.1%.
Within the adult books category in August, all print formats had good gains. Those gains were led by the trade paperback format, in which sales increased 38.8%. E-book sales dropped 11.3% in the month, but downloadable audio rose 10.1%.
Through the first eight months of 2021, adult book sales were up 16.6% over the comparable period a year ago, while sales in the children’s/YA category rose 15.7%. In the children’s/YA segment, sales of board books soared 41% and paperback sales jumped 33%.
For all publishers reporting to AAP, sales increased 14.4% over the January-August period last year.
