The AAP reported sales for October 2015 as tabulated by their pool of approximately 1,200 publishers. After a strong September report (up over 7 percent), October’s results returned more to the year’s norm, a little above flat. Trade sales of $769 million were up $14 million, or less than two percent, from October 2014.
Adult sales of $549 million were down $2 million with gains in hardcovers, paperbacks and digital audio weighed down by losses in mass market and ebooks. While adult ebook sales had been pretty stable through most of the year, the trend that started in September (with sales falling almost 8 percent) deepened in October, as adult ebook sales of $83.6 million were down $23.7 million — or 22 percent — compared to the same month a year ago. (Note that the largest trade publisher, Penguin Random House, returned to agency pricing at the beginning of September 2015.)
Children’s and young adult book sales perked up for the only the second month all year (the first gain was in July), at $220 million, up $16.4 million from a year ago. All children’s print formats gained in sales, while children’s ebooks stayed with their pattern for the year, at $8.1 million, well below $14.6 million a year ago. That puts the month’s total ebook sales at just $91.7 million, down more than $30 million, a gap of almost 25 percent.