June Book Sales Crawl Up; E-Books Soar

AAP Reports 10.6% Increase in June Book Sales
E-book Sales up 204.2% for the Year to Date

New York, NY, August 19, 2010— Publishers’ book sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for the month of June increased by 10.6 percent on the prior year to $1.1 billion and were up by 11.4 percent for the year-to-date.

The children’s book category showed increases over June of last year, with Hardcover Children’s/YA sales up 19.6 percent for the month with sales of $60.6 million in June, although year-to-date sales are down by 16.7 percent. Children’s/YA Paperback sales increased 1.5 percent in June with sales totaling $51.5 million; sales fell 5.0 percent for the year-to-date.

The Adult Hardcover category was down 13.9 percent in June with sales of $113.8 million, although sales for the year-to-date are up by 13.1 percent. Adult Paperback sales increased 0.9 percent for the month ($133.7 million) but increased by 12.1 percent for the year so far. Adult Mass Market sales decreased 35.4 percent for June with sales totaling $60.8 million; sales were down by 14.9 percent year-to-date.

E-book sales continue to grow, with a 118.9 percent increase over June 2009 ($29.8 million); year-to-date E-book sales are up 204.2 percent. Downloaded Audio Books also saw an increase of 32.8 percent over last year, with sales of $6.0 million this June; the category was also up 34.3 percent year-to-date. Physical Audio Book sales decreased 36.9 percent in June with sales totaling $12.1 million; sales for the year-to-date are down 3.6 percent.

Religious Books were down 8.0 percent for the month with sales totaling $39.2 million, although sales were up by 1.4 percent for the year to date.

Sales of University Press Hardcover books increased 7.7 percent in June to $3.4 million; sales increased by 1.9 percent year-to-date. University Press Paperback posted a gain of 8.6 percent for the month with sales totaling $3.4 million; sales were up 1.3 percent for the year. Sales of Professional books rose 2.2 percent to $59.5 million and were up by 11.4 percent for the year to date.

Higher Education publishing sales increased 35.2 percent for the month ($514.9 million) and increased 27.4 percent for the year. Finally, the K-12 elementary/high school category posted total net sales of $766 million, up 39 percent over the prior year, and year-to-date sales of $1.5 billion, a 19.8 percent increase over 2009.

About AAP
The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies. AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software, and electronic products and services. The protection of intellectual property rights in all media, the defense of the freedom to read and the freedom to publish at home and abroad, and the promotion of reading and literacy are among the Association’s highest priorities.