The Association of American Publishers released a veritable snapshot of the industry with its January 2012 sales tally. Every month the company is going to release new statistics from its industry partners in the form of AAP Monthly Statshot. One of the facets that makes this report relevant is the number of publishers who are participating in sharing their sales and data. In the past, around 65-90 companies would give their information to the AAP, but now close to 1,200 publishers are sharing their sales.
Publishers attributed the near-total across-the-board percentage increases in both print and digital formats to general economic improvement, particularly evident during the holiday season and for brick-and-mortar booksellers. This period also saw a number of successful new titles released by publishers for the adult and youth markets. Several also noted that the overall growth in revenue for print-format books in January 2012 was partly due to the returns from the Borders chain that had occurred last January.
Adult books
Hardcover: $69.8M in January 2012; $57.4M in January 2011; +21.6% increase
Trade Paperbacks: $105.1M in Jan 2012; $99.1M in Jan 2011; +6.1% increase
Mass Market Paperbacks: $30.4M in Jan 2012; $39.3M in Jan 2011; -22.5% decrease
eBooks: $99.5M in Jan 2012; $66.6M in Jan 2011; +49.4% increase
Downloaded Audiobooks $8.4M in Jan 2012; $6.5M in Jan 2011; +29.4% increase
Children’s/Young Adult
Hardcover: $57.4M in Jan 2012; $34.0M in Jan 2011; +68.9% increase
Paperbacks: $38.0M in Jan 2012; $23.5M in Jan 2011; +61.9% increase
eBooks: (new AAP category) $22.6M in Jan 2012; $3.9M in Jan 2011; +475.1% increase
Religious (new AAP categories)
Hardcover: $39.6M in Jan 2012; $38.4M in Jan 2011; +2.9% increase
Paperbacks: $5.3M in Jan 2012; $5.9M in Jan 2011; -10.3% decrease
eBooks: $6.7M in Jan 2012; $2.7M in Jan 2011; +150.7M increase
Total Trade
Total Overall: $503.5M in Jan 2012; $396.0M in Jan 2011; +27.1% increase
Total Adult Trade: $323.0M in Jan 2012; $277.4M in Jan 2011; +16.4% increase
Total Children/YA: $128.2M in Jan 2012; $71.0M in Jan 2011; +80.5% increase
Total Religious: $52.4M in Jan 2012; $47.7M in Jan 2011; +9.9%
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.