Digital book sales continue to decline in the United States. This past February, ebook revenues were down 4.8% for the month compared to February 2022 for a total of $87.5 million. Overall, digital audiobooks were up 31.6% for February, reaching $84.5 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 37.0%, coming in at $700 thousand. Year-to-date ebook revenues were down 0.8% compared to the first two months of 2022, for $172.6 million. Digital audiobook sales were up 20.6%, reaching $145.3 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 24.2%, coming in at $1.8 million.
In terms of physical paper format revenues during February, in the Trade category, Hardback revenues were down 6.4%, coming in at $235.5 million; Paperbacks were down 0.9%, with $244.7 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 3.2% to $15.5 million; and Special Bindings were down 5.5%, with $16.2 million in revenue. Year-to-date Trade revenues were up 1.2%, at $1.5 billion for the first two months of the year. Hardback revenues were down 3.2%, coming in at $499.9 million; Paperbacks were up 3.7%, with $522.4 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 20.9% to $27.9 million; and Special Bindings were down 8.2%, with $32.6 million in revenue.
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.
