September Book Sales Drop More Than 12 Percent, AAP Reports

Publishers' book sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for September decreased by 12.1 percent over the previous year to $1.1 billion. Year-to-date sales increased by 3.8 percent.

E-book sales continued to increase significantly, up 158.1 percent over September 2009 ($39.9 million), while year-to-date sales were up 188.4 percent. Sales of downloaded audio books also increased over last year by 73.7 percent, with sales of $7.7 million in September; the category also was up 34.1 percent year-to-date. Physical audio-book sales, however, decreased 42.6 percent in September with sales totaling $11.6 million. Year-to-date sales were down 12.6 percent.