In the AAP’s newest StatShot update, May trade sales were mixed and sales of higher educational course materials fell, leading to a 3.7% sales decline compared to May 2021 for the 1,368 publishers that report sales to the association.
The hardcover and mass market paperback formats had another tough month in the adult category with hardcover sales down 18.6% and mass market sales falling 47%. Trade paperback sales rose 3.1% in the month. The digital formats had mixed results with downloadable audio sales up 5%, but e-book sales falling 5%.
Through May, adult sales were down 4.2% as hardcover sales fell 11.4% and mass market paperback sales tumbled 25.6%.
In the children's / young adult category, the 2.5% May sales increase was led by an 8.6% increase in paperback and a jump of 42.9% in the small special bindings format. Hardcover sales fell 3.6%.
In the first five months of 2022, sales in the category increased with paperback sales driving the gains, as sales jumped 14.2%. Hardcover sales dipped 0.4%.
Sales from reporting religious publishers were up 10% in May. All formats but e-books had an increase for the month. The May increase was not enough to offset a decline for the year-to-date with sales of religious books off 3.6%, with hardcovers having the largest decline, of 6.1%.s
In the other categories, sales in higher educational sales and university presses fell 9.2% and 5.8%, respectively, while sales of professional books increased 9.4%.
For the first five months of 2022, sales for all reporting publishers were down 2.5% from the comparable period in 2021.
Due to delays in reporting, sales of K-12 instructional material were not included in the report.
