NOTE: Due to an error in the Association of American Publishers' January StatShot data, some of the information in this story is incorrect. Click here for an update based on corrected data.
Sales of adult trade books rose 0.6% in January 2015, compared to January 2014, according to AAP’s StatShot program. Meanwhile, sales of children’s/young adult books slipped 1.6%. Sales in the education segments posted double-digit declines in the month, leading to a 7.8% drop in total sales for the 1,210 publishers that report sales to the AAP.
Within adult trade, hardcover and trade paperback sales increased 2.0% and 10.3%, respectively. Sales in the mass market paperback segment tumbled 24.0%, while e-book sales fell 4.9%. Audio had a good January with sales of physical audio up 16.3% and downloadable audio sales ahead 36.7%. E-books accounted for 23.9% of sales of adult books in January compared to 25.2% in January 2014.
In the children’s/young adult segment, the small decline was due to a 37.4% decrease in e-book sales, which offset gains in the print segments. E-book sales represented 10.0% of children’s/young adult revenue in January, down from 15.7% in January 2014.
