The Association of American Publishers released data from its participating StatShot publishers for September, recording trade sales of $832 million, down slightly from $842 million a year ago. Adult books sold $568 million, just above flat from $567 million last year. Hardcovers sold $233 million (up 3 percent) and made up 41 percent of sales, with paperbacks comprising 27 percent at $155 million (down 14 percent). Digital audio again outsold ebooks in the adult market, with $78.8 million in audio sales—up a big 33.5 percent—compared to $76.8 million in ebooks. Adult fiction grew 9 percent to $292 million while nonfiction […]
Industry Statistics
Bookscan Analyst Predicts “Strong Holiday” Sales
Following solid year-over-year gains in October for print book sales, Circana Bookscan analyst Brenna Connor foresees a strong selling season for the holidays. In her weekly analysis published Friday, Connor wrote: “My 2024 holiday outlook is positive. I believe the book market will see an improvement in sales compared to last year. Consumer engagement with books is high in 2024 and the market is poised for a strong holiday season, with sales volume growing between 1 percent and 4 percent compared to last year, with stronger MSRP dollar growth. This holiday there will be a focus on value for many […]
August Shows Trade Book Gains
The Association of American Publishers released StatShot data for August from participating publishers, reporting trade sales of $763 million, up 10.6 percent from August 2023. That strong data follows a near-record July. and looks to be a record performance for August, moving ahead of the big $758 million reported in August 2021. In adult books, sales were $550 million—$296 million (up 14.7 percent) in fiction and $254 million (up 8.5 percent) in nonfiction. Digital audio showed significant gains, up 41 percent to $82.5 million, making up 15 percent of the market. Ebooks grew as well, up 6.1 percent to $77.8 […]
Story Confirms That Spotify Is Paying Real Money to Publishers
Since Spotify started offering US premium subscribers 15 hours of audiobook listening a month at no extra cost nearly a year ago, we know the company has been putting real money into the hands of publishers and authors, marking one of the few initiatives in our world from a big tech player that actually seems to have grown the market. (When Spotify launched a regular, a la carte audiobook sales program the year before, the impact was minor at best.) Digital audio had been growing a lovely 12 to 15 percent a year by industry statistics and through the first […]
Record Fall/Frankfurt Adult Deals Follow Big Third Quarter
Yes, your fall and pre-Frankfurt deal submissions really have been even more overwhelming than usual this year. As we noted yesterday, US publishers were strong buyers in the third quarter of the year and that continued in October, as we saw new records for overall deals during this key five-week-plus selling stretch, lifted by adult books in particular. (As a reminder, we measure the five weeks and a day leading up to the Wednesday opening of FBF. Usually that begins with Labor Day, though last year and this year Frankfurt is a week later than usual.) US deals were up […]
July AAP Sales Jump Across the Board, Topped by Big Gains In Audio, Adult Fiction
The Association of American Publishers released data from participating StatShot publishers, reporting trade sales of $687 million in July, a 21.5 percent increase from 2023. That’s close to the best July ever, recorded in 2021, when sales were $705 million. And the strong AAP reports show publisher dollars running well ahead of unit sales, which were nearly flat for the first six months of the year as measured by Circana Bookscan, down 0.5%. Adult books sold $505 million, up 24 percent, led by paperbacks, which sold $177 million (compared to $150 million last year) and made up 35 percent of […]