Digital book sales in the United States slightly declined by 6.6% and generated $1 billion dollars. Digital audiobooks was up 7.0%, coming in at $839.5 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 29.8% coming in at $15.8 million. Ebook sales represented 11% of the entire publishing industry, while digital audiobooks were 9%.
Trade revenues were down 6.2%, at $9.1 billion for the calendar year. Hardback revenues were down 13.9%, coming in at $3.2 billion; Paperbacks were up 1.1%, with $3.3 billion in revenue; Mass Market was down 25.5% to $181.6 million; and Special Bindings were down 8.1%, with $206.4 million in revenue.
Religious press revenues were down 6.1%, reaching $757.7 million. Hardback revenues were down 6.6% at $452.5 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were down 9.7% to $126.3 million, eBook revenues were down 12.4% at $55.2 million, and digital audiobook revenues were up 5.6% at $42.0 million.
Higher Education Course Materials revenues were $2.9 billion, down 7.5% compared to 2021. Professional Books revenues for calendar year 2022 were $457.4 million, down 5.5% as compared to 2021.
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.
