Sales of children’s/YA books rose 24.2% in February over a year ago, while adult trade sales increased 7%, according AAP’s StatShot program. The children’s/YA segment had the largest increase of all publishing categories in February, when total sales of the 1,367 companies that report revenue to AAP rose 4.1%. Pre-K sales were not included in the overall results due to a delay in publisher reporting.
In the adult segment, trade paperback sales jumped 26.4% over February 2021 and hardcover sales rose 8.8%. Mass market paperback sales plunged 26.5% and accounted for only 3.6% of total sales. Downloadable audio had a rare down month, with sales slipping 0.4%. E-book sales fell 6%.
In the children’s/YA category, paperback sales jumped 34% and hardcover sales rose 22.3%. The digital formats both had declines, with downloadable audio falling 22.4% and e-books dropping 12.6%.
For the first two months of 2022, adult trade sales increased 3.6%, while children’s/YA sales rose 17.9% in the two-month period. Sales for all publishers that reported results were up 3.3%.
