CATEGORY % CHANGE MAY % CHANGE YTD
(Measured in $ sales against same time periods, 2007)
* Number of reporting compaines.
Returns, which soared in April, moderated a bit in May although they still hurt net sales in several segments, most notably trade paperback and both university press categories. With returns up nearly 17% in trade paperback, sales were off 7.3% for May, though year-to-date sales were still ahead 12.7%. Both the university press hardcover and paperback segments had double-digit increases in returns in May and large declines in net sales. Overall, May was a soft month for publishing, with the higher education segment reporting the strongest gains among print segments, at 5%. The 14 publishers reporting e-book sales had revenue of $3.3 million in May, a 24.3% increase over May 2007. Through the first five months of 2008, the 14 e-book publishers had sales of $17.3%, a 34.1% gain.
Adult Hard (17)* 4.4% -9.7%
Adult Paper (18) -7.3 12.7
Mass Market (9) -9.6 -1.2
Juvenile Hard (13) -4.9 -10.6
Juvenile Paper (14) 0.4 3.9
Audio (13) -38.0 -19.7
Electronic (14) 24.3 34.1
Religious (11) 3.7 -11.4
Higher Ed. (11) 5.0 7.2
Univ. Pr. Hard (38) -18.4 -2.4
Univ. Pr. Paper (38) -20.5 -6.8
Professional (9) 1.3 1.7
Elhi (8) -2.6 1.5