The Association of American Publishers has reported that from January to November 2016 e-books declined by 16.4% and digital audiobooks increased by 29.2%. This is good news for the audio industry that has been consistently been seeing massive gains over the past three years.
Trade Books
From Jan. – Nov. 2016 vs. the same time in 2015 trade books were flat at 0.5% growth year-to-date.
- By Category:
- Adult Books were down 2.1% to $4.4 billion
- Childrens & YA Books were up 5.8% to $1.6 billion
- Religious Presses were up 8.6% to $455.4 million
- By Format
- Paperback books grew 6.5% to $2.0 billion
- Hardback books grew 2.1% $2.5 billion
- Downloaded audio grew 29.2% to $244.1 million
- eBooks were down 16.4% to $1.1 billion
Educational Materials and Professional Books
- Educational Materials had a revenue loss of 9.0% for PreK-12 Instructional Materials and 11.5% for Higher Education Course Materials from Jan. – Nov. 2016 vs. the same time in 2015
- Professional Publishing was down 21.1% From Jan. – Nov. 2016 vs. the same time in 2015. These categories include business, medical, law, scientific and technical books. University presses were down 2.5% for the 11 months.
Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past ten years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and Verge.