Publishing’s solid sales performance in 2024 cooled a bit in September, as sales from the 1,278 publishers who report financial results to the Association of American Publishers’ StatShot program increased a modest 2.4%. Still, for the first nine months of 2024, sales were up 7%.
The religious press and adult fiction segments led the nine-month increase, with sales up 18.4% and 13%, respectively. The children’s and young adult nonfiction category had the largest decline with sales, falling 4.3%, while sales of professional books slipped 0.7%.
In adult fiction, digital audiobooks drove the gains, with sales up 32.3%. The format accounted for 16.3% of segment revenue in the first nine months of 2024, compared to 14% a year ago. All formats, with the exception of mass market paperbacks, had gains in the first three quarters of 2024, with hardcovers—which saw a sales bump of 18%—doing especially well.
Digital audio also did well in the adult nonfiction category, rising 23.9% and representing 14.6% of sales in the nine-month period. Sales of e-books fell 3.7%, and hardcover sales dropped 1.1%.
The 4.3% drop in the children’s/YA nonfiction segment was due to declines in the largest print formats. In fiction, a small decline in paperback sales was offset by a 1.7% increase in hardcover sales. Sales of digital audiobooks rose 16.8% in the period, but still represented only 4.4% of segment sales.
The 18.4% increase in sales of religious books was driven by a nearly 25% increase in the hardcover format. Digital audiobooks had the second best nine-month performance and were virtually tied with e-book sales, with each format accounting for about 6% of total religion book sales through September.
For the remaining segments tracked by AAP, sales of higher education course materials were estimated to have increased 5.3%, and sales of university presses were up 4.4%.
