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AAP Reports Trade Revenues Down a Fraction of a Percent Through July 2017

Publisher trade revenues decreased 11.7% in July, bringing down revenues for the year. eBook revenues  were down 5% and ,paperback revenues fell 1.7%, while revenues from hardback sales increased 2%. Downloadable audiobooks revenues were of course up.

As much as I would like to mock MSM and declare "print is dead", the most likely cause is the 2016 election cycle. July 2016 marked the beginning of the final phase of the campaign, and that could have caused an uptick in nonfiction sales as people read more about the topics of the day and a an increase in fiction sales as people tried to avoid the topics of the day.

Press release:

After several months of increases, publishers’ revenues (sales to bookstores, wholesalers, direct to consumer, online retailers, etc.) declined by 11.7% in July 2017 compared to July 2016. Revenues for Jan. – July 2017 were relatively flat, up by 0.2%, according to the most recent StatShot data from the Association of American Publishers. Tracked categories include: Trade – fiction/non-fiction/religious, PreK-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses.

Revenues for trade books (fiction/non-fiction/religious) declined in July, and were flat (down 0.3%) for the year-to-date, compared to the same periods in 2016. The only category to see growth in July 2017 was Religious Presses, which saw a 4.4% revenue increase in July 2017 compared to July 2016; despite that growth, the category remains down year to date. The only format that saw growth in July was downloaded audio, which saw 23.8% revenue growth compared to July 2016.

Total Trade Net Revenue by Category (in millions)*

Jan. – July 2017 Jan. – July 2016 Percent Change
Adult Fiction/Non-Fiction

$2,581.6

$2,552.9

+1.1%

Children’s/YA

$977.4

$1013.1

-3.5%

Religious Presses

$222.7

$227.7

-2.2%

Total Trade

$3,781.7

$3,793.8

-0.3%

Trade Book Formats

Despite the overall revenue decline in trade, downloaded audio had another strong month with revenues up 23.8% in July 2017 compared to July 2016. Revenues for eBook and most print book formats declined, the exception being children’s board books which saw revenues increases of 2.6% in July.

Total Trade Net Revenue by Format (in millions)*

Jan. – July 2017 Jan. – July 2016 Percent Change
eBooks

$648.1

$682.4

-5.0%

Hardback

$1249.8

$1229.1

+1.7%

Paperback & Mass Market

$1,480.9

$1,527.3

-3.0%

Downloaded Audio

$185.6

$142.1

+30.7%

Other (physical audio, board book)

$217.3

$213.1

+2.0%

Education and Scholarly Publishing

Higher Education and PreK-12 publishers saw revenues decline during July, down 10.7% and 8.0% respectively compared to the prior year. From Jan. to July 2017, Higher Education saw slight 1.6% revenue growth and PreK-12 was flat at 0.1% growth.

Professional Books declined by 6.2% and University Presses were flat at 0.2% in July 2017 compared to 2016.

image by Got Credit

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New AAP Reports Trade Revenues Down a Fraction of a Percent Through July 2017 – Stephen's Lighthouse November 23, 2017 um 6:04 am

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