PUBLISHERS BOOK SALES DOWN

Publishers’ book sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for the month of October decreased by 0.9 percent on the prior year to $721 million and were up by 3.4 percent for the year to date.

In the children’s book category, Hardcover Children’s/YA sales showed an increase of 13.9 percent over October of last year with sales of $100 million; however, year-to-date sales decreased by 11.1 percent. Children’s/YA Paperback sales are down by 3.3 percent in October with sales totaling $50.9 million; sales fell 6.5 percent for the year to date.

The Adult Hardcover category was down 6.5 percent in October with sales of $242.9 million, and sales for the year-to-date down by 7.7 percent. Adult Paperback sales decreased 11.8 percent for the month ($115 million) revealing no change for the year to date. Adult Mass Market sales decreased 1.1 percent for October with sales totaling $60.2 million; sales were down by 14.3 percent year to date.

E Book Sales Hold Steady At Nearly 9% of Trade Book Sales
E-book sales from participating reporting publishers continue to grow, with a 112.4 percent increase over October 2009 ($40.7 million) compared to $19.2 million in October 2009. January-October 2010 year-to-date E-book sales are up 171.3 percent reaching $345.3 million compared to 127.3 million from January-October 2009.