Book Sales Up at Start of Year
The Association of American Publishers reported that book sales for the month of January 2009 increased by 3.6 percent to $785 million over January 2008.
Segments that posted increases include the children’s/young-adult hardcover category, which rose 60 percent for the month with sales of $54.4 million; and the children’s/young-adult paperback category, which was up by 9.3 percent in January with sales totaling $37.4 million. Additionally, sales in the professional and scholarly category increased by 2.1 percent ($48.7 million), while higher education publishing sales posted an increase of 29 percent for the month ($340.8 million).
E-book sales posted the largest percentage increase, jumping 173.6 percent for the month to $8.8 million.
More segments, however, experienced declines in January. The adult hardcover category was down by 33.9 percent with sales of $60.5 million, while adult paperback sales decreased 24.7 percent to $102 million. The adult mass-market category reached sales of 56.4 million, a decrease of 12 percent.
Religious books decreased 9 percent for the month with sales totaling $46.5 million.
Also declining in January were sales of university press hardcover books, down 8.3 percent ($6.2 million); university press paperbacks, down 1 percent ($9.9 million); and the net elementary/high school basal and supplemental K-12 category, down 22.8 percent ($57.8 million).
Experiencing the largest percentage decline was the audio book segment, with sales dropping 45.9 percent in January to $7.7 million.
- Companies:
- Association of American Publishers