Until it’s revised a year from now, we have to work with the AAP’s report of a 4 percent gain (or $258 million) in trade sales during 2014, to $6.631 billion. As noted in our full report, all of the gains and then some — $325 million in all — came from strong children’s/YA sales, which rose $325 million. With all but one major publisher having reported individual results for 2014, we prepared a summary version of how those industry-wide results look on a publisher-by-publisher basis. Notably, the publisher we are still waiting on is the largest: Penguin Random House, which claimed a […]
Industry Statistics
Trade Finishes Well In December, Though Adult Hardcovers Remain Down
The AAP reported sales for December 2014 as well as the full year, account for sales from the 1,209 reporting publishers. A strong December helped the trade end the year well, with sales of $591 million up $64.5 million (or 12 percent) from a year ago. Adult hardcover sales still declined in the month however, as was the case for the whole year as well, down $4.5 million in December. eBook sales had their biggest gain since December. For the full year 2014, total trade sales of $6.631 billion were up $258 million (or 4 percent) from $6.373 billion a year ago — […]
November AAP Sales Down Again On Weak Hardcover Shipments
After a surprisingly positive October 2014 sales report, the AAP’s statistics for November returned to the pattern that they have followed for most of the year: Adult sales declined almost 8 percent, down $37 million to $442 million, as children’s rose, up $23.6 million to $190.6 million. The real weakness was in those market-leading new hardcovers that we have been talking about in past reports, with net sales in November of $155.5 million — versus $206.2 million in 2013. eBook sales also declined for the second consecutive month, at $116 million overall, with adult ebook numbers roughly flat and children’s/YA […]
DBW Author Survey: Whether Traditional or Indie Published, the Windfall is Low
In conjunction with last week’s big Digital Book World Conference, DBW.com released their latest author survey in conjunction with Writers Digest, The Author-Publisher Relationship In a Changing Market, with analysis by Dana Beth Weinberg. This year’s report takes a fresh approach, focusing on “different modes of publishing based on allocation of risk and distribution of rewards.” It points to some key divisions in thinking and strategy between authors who publish traditionally and those who publish independently (or do both), but ultimately demonstrates that the windfall is minimal on average — and those who expect the streets of independent publishing to be lined with gold may need a […]
Adult Frontlist Picks Up, Children’s Sales Strong in October
After a significantly negative turn in September, trade sales measured by the AAP fared more positively in October. Total trade sales of $757.5 million were up $83 million (or 11 percent), compared to $674 million a year ago. Adult sales, which have been soft all year, rebounded in October, up $52.5 million (or 11 percent). Hardcover sales of $238.3 million were up $29.3 million (or 14 percent) from the same period last year, while both trade and mass market paperback saw gains of 14.6 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively, for the month. Children’s and YA sales continued to rise, up […]
KDP Fund Nudges Up Again
After growing public disappointment from at least some authors with the effect of the Kindle Unlimited subscription program on the marketplace for self-published books, Amazon provided authors with a slight improvement on the economics for November. They added a “bonus” of $3.5 million to fund that self-published authors share, for a total of $6.5 million for the month (on approximately 4.68 million borrows). That makes the payment for each “borrow” $1.39, up 6 cents from October — when the $1.33 payout was the lowest since the more limited KOLL initiative began back in 2011. Those October fees remain below the $1.52 per borrow for […]