Book sales fell 9% in August compared to a year ago at the 1,367 publishers who report data to AAP’s StatShot program. All segments had declines in the month.
The largest drops came in the university press category, where sales fell 22.3%, and at religious publishers, which saw a 17.8% decline. Sales in the higher education course materials segment fell 6.5%. Sales in both trade segments also fell, with sales of adult books down 9.3% and sales of children’s/young adult books declining 10.9% in the month.
In the adult category, sales of hardcover fell 22.1%, while sales of the less expensive trade paperbacks slipped 5.6%. Digital audio sales continued to grow, up 12.5% in August, and e-books managed a 1.6% gain. Hardcover sales had the largest decline in the children’s/YA category as well, falling 15%. The biggest format in the category, paperback, had a 10.6% decline.
For the first eight months of the year, adult sales fell 4.8%, largely due to a 15.1% decline of hardcovers. Trade paperback sales were up 4.8%, and digital audio sales increased 6.5% in the year to date. E-book sales in the category fell 5.7%.
In the children’s/YA category, sales through August fell 0.8% from a year ago, as a 7.7% decline in hardcover sales was mostly offset by a 5.6% increase in paperback.
For all publishers reporting to AAP, sales in the first eight months of the year were down 5% compared to 2021, with all segments reporting declines. Data for the pre-K materials category has been delayed.
