Category Change YTD
Adult Hard -3.5% -4.4%
Adult Paper 19.2% 15.8%
Mass Market 131.2% 8.1%
Physical Audio 59.7% 31.9%
Audio Download 33.5% 35.9%
Adult E-book 5.1% -2.5%
Children’s/YA -19.1% -15.9%
Religious Presses -12.9% -5.5%
Professional 12.0% 16.7%
K–12 Materials -5.3% -7.1%
Higher Ed. -22.5% -29.0%
University Presses -9.2% -6.7%

(Comparisons of $ sales against same periods in 2014)

First-quarter e-book sales were down 2.5% and 36.6% in the adult and children’s/young adult categories, respectively, according to figures in AAP’s StatShot program. With sales of hardcover and paperback also down, first-quarter sales in the children’s/YA category fell 15.9%. In adult books, the decline in e-book sales was offset by increases in paperback and audiobook, and sales for the entire category rose 3.4% in the quarter. At the end of the quarter, e-books accounted for 30.0% of adult book sales, down from 31.8% at the end of the first quarter of 2014. E-books accounted for 12.6% of first-quarter 2015 childen’s/YA sales, down from 16.7% in last year’s first period. The StatShot figures are based on sales from 1,210 publishers.