This past September was a great month for books. Overall publisher revenue for the month was $1.54 billion, an increase of 8.4% as compared to September of 2018. Total sales in 2019 so far were $11.4 billion, an increase of 4.0% over the same period last year.
Paper formats once again dominated Trade, accounting for $588.1 million, or 75.2% of the category’s $782.2 million in revenue for the month of September. Among Paper formats, paperback books saw the most growth, climbing 9.1% compared to the same month last year.
On the digital side of things, audiobooks increased 24.3% over the same month in 2018, generating $52.0 million for the month. The Downloaded Audio category has seen consistent growth every month since the Association of American Publishers began tracking it in 2012. EBook revenues decreased slightly by 1.3% as compared to September 2018, which accounted for $82.5 million.
The one big trend of 2019, has the the stabilization of ebooks. The format is no longer in a tailspin, consistently in a state of decline. Some months the format is up a few points, and others it is down a few points. It is no longer increasing or decreasing by double digit figures anymore, which is a great thing for anyone invested in digital, such as retails, libraries and publishers.
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.
