May was a bad month for publishers, with sales down in most of the major categories compared to the same month last year. Within the adult books category, hardcover sales fell 17.3%, while mass market paperback sales plunged 40.3% and e-book sales declined 4.4%. A bright spot was sales of downloads of audiobooks, which jumped 62.4%. Total sales in the children’s/YA category fell 9.3%, as e-book sales tumbled 53.5% and hardcover sales dropped 18.9%. For the first five months of 2015, adult e-book sales were down 3.7% compared to the same period in 2014, while e-book sales in the children’s/YA segment fell 43.3%. Among the trade categories, audiobook downloads had the best performance in the five-month period, with sales up 42.0%.
| Category | Change May | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| Adult Hard | -17.3% | -5.0% |
| Adult Paper | 13.4% | 11.7% |
| Mass Market | -40.3% | -4.2% |
| Physical Audio | -16.5% | 7.5% |
| Audio Download | 62.4% | 42.0% |
| Adult E-book | -4.4% | -3.7% |
| Children’s/YA | -9.3% | -14.2% |
| Religious Presses | -13.1% | -10.3% |
| Professional | -8.1% | 5.9% |
| K–12 Materials | -12.1% | -5.0% |
| Higher Ed. | -20.9% | -21.7% |
| University Presses | 3.8% | -4.0% |
(Comparisons of $ sales against same periods in 2014)
