YTD Publishing Sales on Track Despite Weak July

Posted on September 17, 2004

Publishing sales were up for the year in all but three categories tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and despite losses in some categories for the month of July and no net growth for that month, publishing sales remained very much on track for 2004. Slight losses in basal and supplemental K-12 net sales didn�t provide a summer silver lining, however, higher education, professional and scholarly, and university press categories did.

Sales of adult hardcover books faltered slightly, dipping 8.7 percent in July, with sales of $72.3 million (up 17.3 percent for the year). Adult paperback sales also lost some ground, down 15.7 percent in July (with sales of $78.0 million), with the year to date figure up 2.3 percent. The adult mass market category lost 31.4 percent for July, with sales of $46.7 million for this category (down 8.9 percent in 2004).

The children�s and young adult hardcover category asserted even more significant downward pressure on July numbers, posting a 45.6 percent slide ($27.8 million); the category has fallen below the July 2003 year to date figure by 40.0 percent. The children�s and young adult paperback publishing sales saw a gain in July of 8.4 percent with sales totaling $32.9 million for July. This category has gained in recent months, and is now up 3.0 percent for the year.

Audio book sales, witnessed a 17.5 percent decline in July ($11.2 million), and sales are down 3.9 percent for the year. Ebook sales were up 83.5 percent ($900,000) in July, this rapidly expanding category is up 75.8 percent for the year. Religious books made incremental gains in July; sales were up 1.1 percent (totaling $21.2 million). That category maintains a 23.4 percent year to date growth figure.

Sales for university press hardcover books witnessed a significant gain of 23.4 percent ($12.3 million) in July. That category has gained over the summer and is now up 10.0 percent for the year. Sales in the university press paperback category gained 9.1 percent for July (sales totaled $28.7 million); this category is up 7.1 percent for the year. Sales in the professional and scholarly category grew 26.1 percent in July, with sales of $105.6 million; sales in that category are up 7.2 percent for the year. Sales of �other� types of books posted a gain of 70.8 percent in July with sales of $6.7 million. This catchall category is up 43.6 percent for 2004.

Higher education publishing sales grew 4.3 percent in July ($855.9 million); this category is up 3.2 percent growth for the year. Finally, the net El-hi (elementary/high school) basal and supplemental K-12 category declined 1.2 percent in July, with sales of $834.7 million, allowing for a slight slip in the year to date number, which is now down 2.9 percent for 2004.

The Association of American Publishers is a trade association for the U.S. book publishing industry with over 300 members, comprising most of the major commercial book publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and medium-sized houses, non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies.