Industry Statistics

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) released StatShot data from participating publishers for December, and the full year 2023. In December, adult books fell 3.9 percent to $460 million, with $144 million in hardcover sales (down 11.8 percent) and $145 million in paperback sales (down 11.7 percent). Digital formats grew significantly, with ebooks up 10.1 percent to $73 million and digital audio sales up 28 percent to $70.5 million. Children’s book sales gained 5.2 percent in the month to $198 million, with hardcovers down 4.5 percent to $65 million, paperbacks flat at $86 million, and ebooks gaining 82.6 percent to […]

The Association of American Publishers released sales data for November from participating StatShot publishers, reporting trade sales down 1.5 percent to $775.2 million. Adult books sold $513 million, a 6 percent drop from the previous year. Hardcovers sold $213.6 million, down 4 percent, and paperback sales fell 12 percent to $137.9 million. Ebook sales were also down, 6 percent to $68.6 million, while digital audio sales rose 15.5 percent to $70.1 million. In YA and children’s books, sales were up 8 percent to $261.1 million. Hardcovers sold 100.6 million, a gain of 11 percent, while paperbacks rose 12 percent to […]

Circana Bookscan announced full-year statistics for 2023, reporting print unit sales of 767 million, a decline of 3 percent from 2022. Adult fiction sales grew for the fifth year in a row, up 1.5 million units or 1 percent, driven by fantasy, romance, coming-of-age, and historical fiction. Young adult books grew as well, led by driven by the dystopian books, romances, and thrillers. Children’s books, however, saw a sharp decline–influencing the full year’s drop–with sales down 13.5 million units. Fantasy, magic, and humor books fell from their high sales in 2022. “Despite an overall decline and keeping in mind that […]

The AAP released StatShot data for October, reporting trade sales of $889 million, compared to $886 in the same month last year. Adult books sold $595.4 million, up slightly from $586.5 million. Hardcovers sold $264.8 million (down 2.2 percent) and paperbacks were flat at $164.6 million. Digital audio gained 9.5 percent to $63.9 million and ebooks were up 4.2 percent to $70.9 million. In children’s and YA books, total sales were $293.7 million, down 1.9 percent from $299.4 million. Hardcovers fell 5.8 percent to $121.3 million, while paperbacks gained 11 percent to $121.2 million. Digital audio rose 1.4 percent to […]

Following a strong final pre-Christmas sales week, as we reported over the holiday break, Circana Bookscan’s week 52 of 2023 print sales was about 400,000 units below the comparable week from a year ago. Better-than-expected print book sales for November and December left 2023’s total units just 2.58 percent below 2022 — at 767 million units, versus 788 million units a year ago. That puts 2023 modestly above 757 million units in 2020 and well ahead of 2019’s 697 million units from the “before times.”