May Publishing Sales Fell 12.1%

Net sales fell 12.1% in May, compared to May 2019, for the 1,360 publishers who report to AAP’s monthly StatShot program. Similar to the April report, the net sales figure was heavily influenced by a steep drop in returns, which offset a decline in gross sales in the month. (AAP calculates net sales by deducting returns from gross sales.)

Total gross sales fell 17.4% in May, but returns dropped 45.2%, leading to the 12.1% decline in net sales. Religion was the only category to have an increase in gross sales in the month, of 0.2%, and combined with a 38.9% drop in returns, the category had a 7% increase in net sales.

In the trade segments, adult book gross sales fell 17.5%, but a 41.8% decline in returns kept the net sales loss to 11%.The May report did show the first big jump in e-book sales since the pandemic struck, with sales up 30.6% over May 2019, an increase that helped to offset print declines. The gain lifted sales of e-books up by 4.3% for the first five months of 2020. Downloadable audio sales rose 18.6% in the month.

In the children’s/young adult category, gross sales were off 12%, but returns plunged 46.2%, resulting in a 4.9% decline in net sales. E-book sales at the reporting publishers spiked nearly 140% over May 2019, but still accounted for only 3% of total sales.

Publishers have been bracing for the possibility of heavy returns as bookstores start to reopen and send back books they didn’t have a chance to sell, but even as some trade bookstores began opening their doors in May, returns still fell noticeably compared to a year ago. Most college stores remained closed in May, and returns of higher education college materials fell 52% compared to a year ago as gross sales slipped 1.5%, leading to a 19.4% increase in net sales.

For the first five months of 2020, industry-wide net sales fell 4.5%, due to a combination of a 9% decline in gross sales and a 24.8% drop in returns. Net sales of adult books were down 2.2% in the year to date, and children’s/YA sales were up 2.1% compared to the first five months of 2019.