US publishing sales down 4.2% in first half of 2020

According to the Association of American Publishers’ (AAP) latest StatShot report, the US publishing industry’s revenues were down 4.2% in the first half of 2020, although trade sales were up nearly 3% over the same period, reports the Bookseller.

The trade category was up 24.4% in June compared to the same month last year, while half-year sales totalled US$700.3 million (A$974.5m), which was up 2.8% compared to the same period in 2019.

Sales of digital books continued strongly, with ebooks up 12.7% for the first six months of 2020. The growth was led by the children’s and YA category, which was up 62.4% compared to the same period last year. Audiobooks were also up, growing 14.1% in the first half of the year.

The drop in the industry’s overall revenue was due to sales declines in the education (down 15.9%), professional books (down 12.4%) and university presses (down 3.5%) markets.

StatShot is tracked monthly by the AAP across approximately 1360 publishers and measures net revenue, including sales to bookstores and wholesalers, and online and direct to consumer sales.

Category: International news