NPD Bookscan recently reported ebook sales data for the full year 2020, as reported by participating publishers through their PubTrack Digital service. Tracked ebook sales hit 174 million units in 2020, up 17 percent compared to 149 million units in 2019. (For now, the reported data excludes IPG, so these numbers may not align with previous reports.) The biggest gains came in April and May, and when pandemic-fueled ebook sales were up 10 million over the same period in 2019. While it covers a somewhat different pool of participants, Bookscan’s unit data is in line with the AAP’s revenue data, […]
Industry Statistics
Looking At Interest In Books Post-Pandemic
Ingram Content Group held a webinar on Wednesday reviewing some key learnings and trends for the book publishing industry from 2020, and how those developments are carrying over to 2021. Among the topics covered, the company’s digital sales are even stronger so far in 2021 than they were in 2020, with overall sales up 30 percent — driven by academic digital sales, which are up by more than 120 percent. Looking at consumer behavior around books, Pete McCarthy noted, “We saw in 2020 about a 50 percent rise in book-related searches on Google and Amazon…which is a huge shift.” He […]
Deal Reports Jump In First Quarter — Alongside Print Book Sales
As readers may recall in January we analyzed domestic book deal trends for 2020, finding that deal volume rose measurably, across all major categories — even as financial investment in the biggest deals softened, particularly in adult books. With NPD Bookscan showing print book sales stronger than ever across the first quarter of 2021 — with sales of approximately 186 million units, up a big 26.5 percent compared to 147 million units in 2020 — we looked at our deal report statistics for the same period. In line with those very strong consumer print book sales, our deal reports also […]
January AAP StatShot Shows Adult Hardcover Leading Overall Trade Growth
The AAP released their January StatShot of publisher-reported sales, showing continuing strength: Adult and children’s trade sales were $628 million for the month, up from $506 million in pre-pandemic January, one year ago. The biggest gains were in adult hardcovers, with sales $138.6 million, up sharply from $91.5 million last year. Much of that gain was thanks to lower returns, which were down substantially across both adult and children’s formats, continuing the pandemic trend. Still, shipments of adult hardcovers gained a healthy 16.6 percent, at $173.9 million. Ebooks continue to hold their pandemic gains, at $87 million for the month, […]
AAP Trade Sales Rose 10.2 Percent in 2020
The AAP reported monthly Stat Shot sales for December and full-year 2020. December was another strong month, with sales of $739 million, up $65 million (9.6 percent) compared to a year ago — with all the gains and then some coming from adult books. Well over half of that gain came from adult hardcovers, which were $38 million higher. For the full year, AAP trade sales hit $7.933 billion — up $736 million from a year ago, a 10.2 percent gain. (The revised final total for 2019 sales was $52 million lower than when it was first reported a year […]
Bookscan Curious?
For literary agents interested in the subscription plans to Bookscan and PubTrack Digital that we offer in conjunction with NPD Books, tomorrow we are holding our first-ever webinar with the NPD. Together we’ll provide an overview of the available plans and NPD will offer a live demo and take questions. If you’re interested in an invite, please write us at bookscan@publishersmarketplace.com.