Skip to main content

AAP: eBook Sales, Publisher Revenues Down in First Third of 2016

16396994599_47fba3d2c6_h

Is anyone in the mood for poetic justice?

Then you’ll be pleased with the latest announcement from the AAP.

On Thursday the Association of American Publishers released its latest Statshot report on revenues of the US book publishing industry.

Trade book sales for the 1,200 odd publishers who submit their data to the AAP were up 3.4% for the month of April, but still down 4.5% for the year.

Paperback and audiobook revenues increased the most in April 2016 (21.5% and 20.4%), respectively) while sales of hardback books were up 2.6%. eBook revenues were down 22% for the month of April.

For the first four months of the year, ebook and hardback revenues were down (21.7% and 5.2%), while paperback revenues were up 9.9% and audiobook sales were up 31.4%.

 

In other words, the Big Five are having some success in shifting ebook buyers back to print, but they are still being stymied by Amazon’s decision to drive down the price of hardback books last summer.

Amazon is still keeping prices down, and that is depressing the market. That is a win for both consumers and for pundits who want to gloat at publishers shooting themselves in the foot.

 O O O

Press release:

Trade books grew 3.4% in April, with double-digit growth in April 2016 vs. April 2015 in Childrens/YA (12.8%) and Religious Books (13.7%). Despite that, publishers’ revenues were down 7.0% in April 2016, and 4.3% for the year-to-date vs. the same timeframes in 2015.

Overview

  • Publishers’ book sales for April 2016 were $729.6 million, down 7.0% from April 2015.  These numbers include sales for all tracked categories (Trade – fiction/non-fiction/religious, PreK-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses.)

o   Year-to-date, sales were down 4.3% to $2.85 billion vs. the same four months in 2015.

  • Trade (consumer) books sales were $534.7 million in April 2016, up 3.4% from April 2015. Year-to-date, trade is down 4.5% compared to the same time in 2015. Trade numbers include Childrens/YA Books, Adult Books and Religious Books.
  • In April:

o   Adult Books had $383.3 million in sales, flat (+ 0.1%) from 2015

o   Childrens/YA Books had $118.0 million in sales, up 12.8%

o   Religious Presses had $33.4 million in sales, up 13.7%

Trends for Trade by Format

  • In April 2016 vs. April 2015:

o   Paperback books grew 21.5%

o   Downloaded audio grew 20.4%

o   Hardback books grew 2.6%; interestingly, there was 24.2% growth in Children/YA and a 6.6% decline in Adult Books

o   eBooks were down 22.7%

  • Year-to-date, paperback books (9.9%) and downloaded audio (31.4%) are the categories with the most growth.

Educational Materials and Professional Books

  • Educational Materials were down 13.0% for PreK-12 Instructional Materials and 81.6% for Higher Education Course Materials, in April 2016 vs. April 2015. Year-to-date the numbers are more representative, with a decline of 3.6% for PreK-12 and growth of 3.7% in Higher Ed.
  • Professional Publishing was down 9.0% in April 2016 vs April 2015. These categories include business, medical, law, scientific and technical books. University presses were down 8.7%.  Both categories show declines year-to-date as well.

image by pedrik

Similar Articles


Comments


Syn September 29, 2016 um 12:38 pm

I think Indie ebooks are up as that’s where a lot of people went after the price hikes of the big publishers. They also went to audiobooks and who leads that market?

Also, a lot of the indies are doing audiobooks now. Audible often runs a deal that if you buy the kindle book you can add on the audiobook for 1.99 to 3.99 depending on the book. If you have kindle unlimited and borrow that book, Amazon sees it as you own it and will still sell you the audio for 1.99. Kindle Unlimited has paid for itself just in discounting books I want to buy audio for.

Publishers were so concerned over ebooks, seems like Audio has slipped under the radar.


Fjtorres September 29, 2016 um 12:44 pm

Note that those numbers include non-fiction and educational books and materials. I’m thinking that breaking out *new release* narrative fiction numbers alone will show a bigger drop.


Self-publishing News: Where Are We Heading? | Self-Publishing Advice Center September 30, 2016 um 8:00 am

[…] she opened to indies. It’s a refreshingly positive piece. Meanwhile, amidst the positivity, the latest figures from the Association of American Publishers shows, surprise!, paperback and audiobook revenues are up while ebook and hardback revenues are […]


eBook Sales, Publisher Revenues Down in First Third of 2016 | The Passive Voice | A Lawyer's Thoughts on Authors, Self-Publishing and Traditional Publishing September 30, 2016 um 11:00 am

[…] Link to the rest at The Digital Reader […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices | globalnewsbreak September 30, 2016 um 11:02 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – Tech News Voices September 30, 2016 um 11:08 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – Tech Armies September 30, 2016 um 11:11 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – Tech News World September 30, 2016 um 11:12 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – Tech News Nerds September 30, 2016 um 11:25 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – Tech News Eye September 30, 2016 um 11:27 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices | Tech News September 30, 2016 um 11:28 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – Tech News Flix September 30, 2016 um 11:35 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – September 30, 2016 um 11:35 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – Cosmo Peek September 30, 2016 um 11:42 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – Tech News Army September 30, 2016 um 11:43 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – Startups September 30, 2016 um 11:46 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – Marketmonitor September 30, 2016 um 11:52 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – TechCrunch – Advice Cover September 30, 2016 um 11:54 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – Tech Scenes September 30, 2016 um 11:57 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – News Updates September 30, 2016 um 1:20 pm

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for a robe of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing control […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – Global News September 30, 2016 um 1:26 pm

[…] pundits all overthe web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices | To Do Word Tech September 30, 2016 um 1:32 pm

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – Evangelist News September 30, 2016 um 5:25 pm

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices September 30, 2016 um 8:07 pm

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – Age Times September 30, 2016 um 9:22 pm

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for a robe of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing control […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – AllMagNews September 30, 2016 um 10:32 pm

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – Tech News Headlines October 1, 2016 um 12:13 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – Tech News Division October 1, 2016 um 3:42 pm

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices | Geeky Cool Dad October 1, 2016 um 4:38 pm

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices | October 1, 2016 um 6:36 pm

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – CNARENA – Social Media | Content Sharing | Social Bookmarking October 1, 2016 um 11:24 pm

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices | EduFun October 2, 2016 um 1:47 am

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


Print and ebook revenue down as Amazon slashes prices – WooCommerce Plugins October 2, 2016 um 10:36 pm

[…] pundits all over the web are blaming Amazon for its habit of aggressively pricing hardbacks and paperbacks after losing […]


News Roundup [September 30] – No Shelf Required September 25, 2020 um 2:56 am

[…] AAP: eBook Sales, Publisher Revenues Down in First Third of 2016 (The Digital Reader) […]


Write a Comment