AAP Statistics - Publishers Lunch

The AAP (Association of American Publishers) reports monthly (StatShot) and annual sales statistics for publishers’ sales, based on data supplied to them by approximately 1,200 publishers. This pool includes all of the largest trade publishers, as well as publishers represented by all of the largest distribution groups.

They have maintained this reporting pool since the beginning of 2012 — when they significantly expanded their roster of reporting publishers. (Prior to that only a very small set of publishers reported comprehensive data, including ebooks.) The 2012 monthly reports also featured restated 2011 data drawn from the expanded pool for historical comparison. Which means we have good, consistent data on the size of the business dating back to 2011, but anything prior to that is not comprehensive enough for adequate comparisons.

A similar timeline applies to BookStats, a joint project between the AAP and the BISG (Book Industry Study Group) covering 2008 through 2013. (Book Stats was introduced in 2011, presenting data for 2010 — but in that first year of data collection, they backfilled for 2009 and 2008 as well, to provide a basis for comparison.) These annual statistics are based on raw data from a somewhat larger pool of about 1,600 publishers — but those numbers are used as the basis of “models” or “estimates” of the entire business, incorporate publishers who never report data. (In other words, sophisticated methodology is used to essentially double the real trade numbers to create the “estimates.”) The BISG has withdrawn from the project, and both the AAP and BISG are evaluating how they will approach annual publishing industry data going forward.

AAP 2016

– January
January report

AAP 2015

Overall trade sales finished at $6.652 billion — up $52 million compared to newly revised counts for a year ago, a gain of about three-quarters of one percent. (But when 2014 sales were originally reported, they were put at $6.631 billion or just ahead of the current 2015 count.) Print book sales as tracked by Nielsen Bookscan grew by 17.6 million units in 2015, or a modest 2.8 percent, moving over 652 million units in all.

Declining ebook sales were among the year’s big stores. Adult ebook sales had held up reasonably well through September (when Penguin Random House returned to full agency) and then fell off significantly — dropping $78 million in the last three months of 2015. For the full year, adult ebook sales of $1.188 billion were down $124 million, while children’s ebook sales of $129 million were down $98.5 million. Digital audio — tracked only in the adult category — finished the year at $205.6 million, up significantly from $148 million in 2014.

Total adult sales for 2015 were $4.944 million, up $108 million (or 2 percent), driven by a $205 million gain in trade paperbacks. Children’s/YA sales of $1.708 million for the year were down $56.5 million (or 3 percent).

We took a deeper look at ebook and other sales trends from over the past 5 years in this piece, Numbers In Context: AAP Trends.

– December/Full Year
December/Full Year report
– November
November report
– October
October report
– September
September report
– August
August report
– July
July report
– June
June report
– May
May report
– April
April report
– March
March report
– February
– January
January report

AAP 2014

Total trade sales of $6.631 billion are up $258 million (or 4 percent) from $6.373 billion a year ago — due entirely to strong children’s/YA sales, which rose $325 million. Adult sales were down 1.5 percent for the year, due almost entirely to weak hardcover/frontlist sales; they fell more than 8 percent from $1.520 billion in 2013 to $1.395 billion in 2014, a decline of $125 million.

Total ebook sales of $1.519 billion grew almost 5 percent, or $70 million, up from $1.449 billion in 2013. Adult ebooks were up slightly, with most of the gains coming from children’s/YA ebook sales, which totaled $227 million for the year. eBooks comprised 23 percent of all reported sales for the year, accounting for 27 percent of adult sales and 12 percent of children’s/YA sales. (In 2013, ebooks comprised 21 percent of AAP trade sales in all, and in 2012 they were 23 percent.)

Some of the largest growth on a percentage basis came from downloadable audiobooks. Adult digital audio was $162 million, rising 27 percent or $34.6 million, while physical audio sales fell only $6 million to $70 million for the year. (Children’s/YA audio is not big enough to be reported separately.)

Month	Adult Sales	Change vs. 2013	Children's/YA Sales	Change vs. 2013	eBook Sales	Change vs. 2013
January	$362 million	+$10 million	$144 million	+$44 million	$137 million	+$15.5 million
February	$325 million	+$6 million	$137 million	+$35 million	$139 million	+$5.5 million
March	$316.5 million	-$23.5 million	$133 million	+$22 million	$108.5 million	-$7.5 million
April	$363 million	-$20 million	$128 million	+$24 million	$138.5 million	+$19.5 million
May	$371 million	-$37 million	$154 million	+$39 million	$120 million	+$3 million
June	$367.5 million	-$3 million	$129 million	+$18.5 million	$129 million	+$11 million
July	$367 million	+$13 million	$133 million	+$15 million	$127 million	+$6.5 million
August	$415 million	+$8 million	$179 million	+$29 million	$124.5 million	+$2.5 million
September	$435 million	-$58.5 million	$183 million	+$15 million	$123 million	+$4 million
October	$537.1 million	+$52.5 million	$220.4 million	+$31.2 million	$120 million	-$1 million
November	$441.9 million	-$37.3 million	$190.6 million	+$23.6 million	$116 million	-$5.6 million
December	$432.1 million	+$35.5 million	$159 million	+$29.1 million	$133.5 million	+$13.8 million
Full Year	$4.744 billion	-$67.7 million	$1.887 billion	+$325 million	$1.519 billion	+$70 million
January 2015	$393 million	+$26.7 million	$140.3 million	-$1.6 million	$129.4 million	-$10.9 million
February 2015	$305 million	-$24 million	$87 million	-$40 million	$117 million	-$21 million
March 2015	$356 million	$38.3 million	$101 million	-$23.8 million	$110 million	-$1.1 million
April 2015	$488 million	-$6.5 million	$120 million	-$20.6 million	$120 million	-$20.6 million

-December/Full 2014
December and full-year report
– November
November report
– October
October report
– September
September report
– August
August report
– June and July
June report | July report
– April and May
April report | May report
– February and March
February report | March report
– January
Report

2013
– Full Year 2013 Stats (Including November and December Reports)
– September and October
– July and August (With 13-Month Table Tracking Comparative eBook Decline)
– May and June
– April
– March and February
– January

2012
– Full Year 2012 Stats (Including December Report)
– November
– October
– September
– August
– July
– June
– May
– April
– March
– February
– January