Sales in the children/young adult category rose 16.6% in July over July 2018, while sales of adult books increased 3.9% in the month over 2018, according to AAP’s StatShot program.
For all 1,361 publishers who supplied data to AAP, sales in July rose 5.9%, led by the K-12 instructional materials segment, where sales jumped 28.5%. The children/YA segment was led by a 33.8% increase in sales of paperbacks over July 2018, while board book sales increased 13.9%.
In the adult book category, mass market paperback sales fell 18.6% in July, and trade paperback sales dipped 2.8%. Hardcover sales were up 7.8%. Downloadable audiobook sales increased 17.6% in the month over 2018, one of its slowest increases of the year. In the first seven months of 2019, downloadable audio sales were up 29.1% over the comparable period in 2018. July e-book sales inched up 0.5% in the month, but were down 2.8% in the year to date.
For the first seven months of 2019, overall sales increased 6.7% over the comparable period in 2018, with the K-12 instructional material category posting a 30.3% increase. Sales in the children/YA segment were up 9.1% in the period, and adult book sales were 1.9% ahead of the first seven months of 2018. Sales of higher education course materials continued to struggle in 2019, with sales down 8.0% in the seven month period.
