Category % Change DEC. 2006 % Change YTD
(Measured in $ sales against same time periods, 2006)
* Number of reporting companies.
AAP's monthly sales estimates show that sales fell in five publishing segments and rose in eight in 2006. While the children's hardcover, elhi, religion and audio segments were down for most of the year, the children's paperback segment tumbled into negative numbers in December when sales fell almost 18%. The decline can be attributed in part to strong sales in December 2005 of Narnia paperbacks. In elhi, fewer adoption opportunities resulted in a 7.1% decline in supplementary sales and a 5.5% drop in basal sales. The biggest gain in the year was in trade paperbacks, the only segment where the sales increase exceed 5%.
Adult Hard (19)* 16.6% 4.1%
Adult Paper (20) -19.3 8.5
Mass Market (10) -12.8 4.6
Juvenile Hard (14) -11.3 -29.0
Juvenile Paper (15) -17.7 -1.3
Audio (12) -11.4 -11.7
Electronic (11) 38.0 24.1
Religious (12) -8.3 -10.2
Higher Ed. (13) 1.9 2.8
Univ. Pr. Hard (36) 7.8 4.1
Univ. Pr. Paper (36) 5.1 4.7
Professional (9) 4.6 2.3
Elhi (9) -1.8 -5.8