The AAP released their StatShot Annual Report for 2022 earlier than usual, once again providing a substantial collection of actual, directly-reported data, received from a modestly expanded pool of reporting publishers. Trade sales (starting with their default measure, which includes religious presses alongside trade) declined 6.1 percent to $9.33 billion—falling by $600 million—with 1.299 billion trade units sold in 2022, down 3.8 percent from 1.351 billion in 2021. (Religious presses alone comprised $697 million in 2022, compared to $747 million in 2021, making trade sales on their own $8.633 billion. And if you want to look at domestic sales alone, export […]
Industry Statistics
ABA Continues to Add Members, With Slower Growth In Locations
The ABA reported through the AP that the booksellers’ organization added 173 members over the last year. The ABA now counts 2,185 bookstore members, operating 2,599 locations in all. Forty-six new stores added over the past year reported diverse ownership. That represents an increase of 175 members — yet they only grew by 52 locations. In calendar 2023, ABA ceo Allison Hill indicated book sales look to be “softer”, though the association added 56 member stores so far, and with 18 stores closing. Separately, the ABA itself released an interesting statistic about online sales volume conducted through their Indie Commerce […]
Feb AAP Stats Show Major Gains in Audio
The AAP released February StatShot data for participating publishers, reporting trade sales of $630.8 million, down 1.5 percent from last year, or $10 million lower. Sales for adult books were $428 million, down 2.1 percent from February 2022. Adult hardcovers fell 13.1 percent to $113 million, paperbacks were down 3.2 percent to $147 million, and ebooks were down 7.6 percent to $71.6 million. Some of those losses were made up for by a 33.5 percent increase in digital audio sales, which amounted to $73.3 million—surpassing ebook sales for the month. Though they aren’t the biggest driver of kids sales, digital […]
Deals Fell In the First Quarter, As Big Publishers Invested Less
Deal reports took a discernible step back in the first quarter, after setting significant records in 2021 and then again in 2022. (Last year, the first quarter was the strongest period the whole year, with total US deal volume ending up down by 1.5 percent.) Total deals registered 4.4 percent lower than in the big Q1 2022, but “core” deals (excluding our digital deals category) declined 8 percent. Similarly, deals from the five largest trade publishers on their own also declined 8.5 percent, leading the market down, primarily due to the two biggest players. Digital deals rose sharply for the […]
January Trade Sales Rose 3.7 Percent, AAP Reports
In an encouraging start to the year, January sales data from the AAP’s reporting StatShot publishers shows trade sales rising modestly, reversing three consecutive quarters of declines at the end of 2022. Gains in adult books offset slight decreases in children’s and YA sales, with total trade sales for the month registering $682 million, up 3.7 percent over January 2022. Adult sales were $492 million, an increase of 6.2 percent, with hardcover sales of $155 million and paperback sales of $178 million. Children’s sales fell 2.3 percent to $189.5 million, with hardcovers selling $69 million and paperbacks accounting for $83 […]
2022 Trade Sales Fell 6.2%
The Association of American Publishers released its StatShot data for December and for all of 2022 from participating publishers, with trade sales falling 6.2 percent for the year and 6.4 percent for the month. Net trade sales for the year were $8.385 billion, down from $8.938 billion. As with Bookscan-reported print sales figures, that is still a substantial gain over 2020 (when trade sales totaled $7.88 billion) and 2019 (at $7.40 billion), and the second-best total ever. Adult sales were $5.76 billion, down 6.4 percent (-$394 million), while children’s and YA books dropped 5.7 percent (-$159 million) to $2.619 million. […]