Industry Statistics

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Tina Jordan
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AAP Reports Book Sales Estimated at $24.3 Billion in 2008

New York, NY, March 31, 2009: The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its annual estimate of total book sales in the United States. The report, which uses data from the Bureau of the Census as well as sales data from eighty-one publishers inclusive of all major book publishing media market holders, estimates that U.S. publishers had net sales of $24.3 billion in 2008, down from $25.0 billion in 2007, representing a 2.8% decrease.  In the last six years the industry had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.6%. 

Trade sales of adult and juvenile books fell 5.2 percent from 2007 to $8.1 billion, CAGR fell to 2.1 percent. Growth was found in paperbound books for children and adults, with growth rates of 6.4% and 3.6% respectively. Sales in the hardcover fell 12.4% in children's hardcover and 13% in adult hardcover.

Over the period covered by the estimated data, the CAGR for hardbound books was 0.4% for adult books and 1.5% for juvenile.  Paperbound books grew 3.9% and 2.8% over the 6 years.

Educational titles had a mixed year.  Sales in the Elementary (El-Hi) category, those books produced for K-12 education, fell 4.4% to $6.1 billion in 2008, CAGR for this category was 0.8%.  The Higher Education category, which includes sales of college textbooks, fared better.  Total sales reached $3.8 billion this year up 2.7% on 2007.  This brought the CAGR for college textbooks to 3.8%

Mass Market paperbacks decreased 3.0% and brought the category CAGR to -1.9%.  Total sales were $1.1 billion in 2008.  Book clubs and mail-order fell for the sixth year to $600 million, a fall of 3.4%.

Audio book sales for 2008 totaled $172 million, down 21% on the prior year, CAGR for this category is still healthy at 3.1%.  E-books continue to grow significantly, sales reached $113 million in 2008, up 68.4%. 

Religious book sales dropped 7.6% to $724m in 2008. However over the period of the estimate it has still performed well with CAGR of 4.5%.

A complete list of the preliminary estimated book publishing industry net sales for 2008 prepared by Management Practice, Inc. is available here.

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