Skip to main content

New Report Shows US Trade Publishing Industry Revenues Dropped 1% in 2013

aapThe American Association of Publishers announced today that their latest annual BookStats report, which was produced in partnership with the BISG, is now for sale.

Like the 2012 report (released in May 2013), I don’t have the report but I do have the press release, and between this press release and other AAP data I have put together a few useful details, including:

  • the total publishing industry generated around $27 billion in revenue
  • Publishers’ net revenue from sales of digital and print content via online retail is now ahead of revenue from brick-and-mortar retail
  • the trade publishing industry accounted for $14.63 billion, down from $14.98 billion in 2012 (asterisk)
  • the AAP’s monthly reports track about $7 billion in annual revenue (in 2013)

On a related note, the annual figures released this year don’t quite match what the AAP released last year; the estimates for the trade publishing industry were adjusted downward by about $60 million.

aap annual 2013 aap annual trade 2013

The press release goes on to mention a few highlights.

  • Of the 5 trade sectors tracked by the AAP, Adult nonfiction grew the fastest. Total revenue increased 5.4% ($4.41 billion in 2012 to $4.65 billion in 2013), adding about 2.8% more units sold (488.78 million in 2012 to 502.30 million in 2013).
  • The AAP also reported that the dollar value for the eBook sector in 2013 decreased a fraction of a percent in 2013 ($3.06 billion in 2012 to $3.04 billion in 2013), but the number of units sold grew by 10.1% (465.49 million in 2012 to 512.70 million in 2013). eBook sales in 2013 were also up +43% over 2011.
  • Downloaded audiobooks also saw impressive growth, with revenue up 19.2% in 2013 over 2012 ($228.83 million in 2012 to $272.82 millionin 2013), and units sold up 14.2% in 2013 over 2012 (30.38 million in 2012 to 34.68 in 2013).

Bookstats is a joint project between the AAP and the Book Industry Study Group. Based on data from 1,600 publishers, the AAP and BISG generate estimates of the size of the publishing industry and its net revenues. The estimates don’t reflect retailer/consumer sales, and they don’t include all self-published ebooks.

The Bookstats report can be ordered here.

Similar Articles


No Comments


Write a Comment