Led by huge gains in the adult trade and religion book segments, total sales for the 1,277 publishers who report results to the Association of American Publishers’s StatShot program jumped 18.1% in July over a year ago. The rise in net sales was due in part to much lower returns in the month, which complemented a 15.1% increase in gross sales. AAP calculates net sales by subtracting book returns from gross sales.
Sales of religion books have been strong all year, and that continued in July, with sales jumping 32.1% in the month. In addition to big gains in hardcover, up 43.7%, and paperback, ahead 23.6%, sales of digital audio shot up 42.3%, though the format accounted for only 7.5% of segment revenue.
Digital audio sales also made a big impact in adult fiction and nonfiction, jumping 61.8% and 58.3%, respectively, in July. The format represented about 20% of adult fiction sales in July and 18% of nonfiction sales. Adult e-book sales rose 9.9% in adult fiction, but dropped 3% in nonfiction. The major print formats posted double-digit increased in both fiction and nonfiction. Total adult fiction sales rose 25.8% and nonfiction 21.4% in July.
Although its impact on the children’s/young adult category is not as profound as in adult, digital audio had the biggest increase in fiction sales, rising 37.5%. Hardcover sales were up 21.1% in July and 22% for paperback, resulting in a 21% jump in segment sales. Nonfiction sales dropped 6.7% in the month. Hardcover sales took the biggest hit, down 17.8%.
In the non-trade areas, sales of higher education materials increased 4.6%, while sales of professional books were flat in July. Sales of university press titles rose 7.8%.
With the strong July results, sales through the first seven months of 2024 were up 7.6% over the comparable period in 2023. They were led by the religion book and adult fiction categories, where sales were up 17.5% and 13.4%, respectively.
