Print Books Down 12.1% in September, Ebooks up 158.1%

Publishers’ book sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for the month of September decreased by 12.1 percent on the prior year to $1.1 billion and were up by 3.8 percent for the year to date.

The children’s book category showed decreases over September of last year, with Hardcover Children’s/YA sales down 17.4 percent for the month with sales of $76.6 million in September, and year-to-date sales are down by 15.1 percent. Children’s/YA Paperback sales decreased 1.6 percent in September with sales totaling $53.3 million; sales fell 6.8 percent for the year to date.
The Adult Hardcover category was down 40.4 percent in September with sales of $180.3 million, and sales for the year-to-date down by 8.1 percent. Adult Paperback sales decreased 15.8 percent for the month ($111.5 million) but increased by 1.5 percent for the year so far. Adult Mass Market sales decreased 23.6 percent for September with sales totaling $67.8 million; sales were down by 15.7 percent year to date.
E-book sales continue to grow, with a 158.1 percent increase over September 2009 ($39.9 million); year-to-date E-book sales are up 188.4 percent. Downloaded Audio Books also saw an increase of 73.7 percent over last year, with sales of $7.7 million this September; and the category was also up 34.1 percent year-to-date. Physical Audio Book sales decreased 42.6 percent in September with sales totaling $11.6 million; sales for the year to date are down 12.6 percent.
Religious Books were down 2.5 percent for the month with sales totaling $66.1 million, and sales were down by 0.3 percent for the year to date.
Sales of University Press Hardcover books decreased 4.8 percent in September to $5.1 million; sales increased by 4.1 percent year-to-date. University Press Paperback sales, however, increased 10.6 percent for the month with sales totaling $6.3 million, with sales up 5.5 percent for the year. Sales of Professional books rose 0.7 percent to $58.8 million and were up by 9.6 percent for the year to date.
Higher Education publishing sales increased 2.2 percent for the month ($416.7 million) and increased 10.6 percent for the year. Finally, the K-12 El-Hi (elementary/high school) category posted total net sales of $351.5 million, down 10.0 percent over the prior year, and year-to-date sales of $3.2 billion, a 5.7 percent increase over 2009.

* From figures released by the AAP