Ups and Downs in April

Category % Change April % Change YTD
(Measured in $ sales against same time periods, 2004)
Publishers reported more good news than bad in April, according to monthly estimates from the AAP. Among the trade segments, the children's and adult hardcover categories had solid gains, although sales were off in children's paperback as well as in mass market paperback. The religious book segment had one of its better months in April, though sales in the category were still down 1.9% for the first four months of 2005. The rapid sales increase posted by the elhi segment in the first quarter slowed in April with sales ahead 2.9%. Still, sales for the year-to-date were up 9.5%.
Adult Hardcover 16.7% 4.1%
Adult Paperback 5.4 5.4
Adult Mass Market -22.4 -3.0
Juvenile Hardcover 35.2 42.0
Juvenile Paperback -10.2 -1.5
Audio Books 25.2 12.3
Electronic Books 70.8 39.5
Religious Books 5.8 -1.9
Higher Education 124.5 -4.4
Univ. Pr. Hardcover -23.0 -15.9
Univ. Pr. Paperback -2.6 11.7
Professional 3.5 -0.4
Elhi 2.9 9.5