AAP Reports Publisher Revenue Up 7.2% in February 2019

17.04.2019 Nate Hoffelder 1 Comment

AAP just issued the February StatShot Monthly report which includes data for the first two months of 2019.

Among the highlights:

Overall participating publisher revenue was $754.0 million in February 2019, an increase of $50.8 million (+7.2%) compared to 2018.
February 2019 saw strong gains for hardback books, with revenue increasing 18.0% from the prior year to $172.9 million, due to across-the-board increases in each of the trade categories.
eBook revenues fell 3.5%, to $$166.5 million.
Audiobook revenues rose 36.5%, to$90.5 million.
In the first two months of 2019, publisher net revenue for trade (consumer) books was $1.06 billion, an increase of 3.2% from January-February in 2018.

press release:

Overall participating publisher revenue was $754.0 million in February 2019, an increase of $50.8 million (+7.2%) compared to 2018, according to the Association of American Publishers (AAP) StatShot Monthly report. For the first two months of 2019, publisher revenue was $1.82 billion for all tracked categories (Trade, PreK-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing and University Presses.)

Trade Publishing

In the first two months of 2019, publisher net revenue for trade (consumer) books, including sales to bookstores, wholesalers, direct to consumer, online retailers, etc., was $1.06 billion, an increase of 3.2% from January-February in 2018. Increased revenue for Religious Presses (20.8%) and Children’s/Young Adult (7.5%) offset a decline (-1.0%) in Adult Books as compared to the same period in 2018.

January – February Trade Book Revenue (in millions)

	Jan. – Feb. 2019	Jan. – Feb. 2018	Percent Change
Adult Fiction/Non-Fiction	$672.1	$678.8	-1.0%
Children’s/YA	$269.5	$250.6	7.5%
Religious Presses	$119.1	$98.6	20.8%
Total Trade	$1,060.7	$1,027.9	3.2%

February 2019 saw strong gains for hardback books, with revenue increasing 18.0% from the prior year to $172.9 million, due to across-the-board increases in each of the trade categories. Hardback Adult Books increased 13.4%, hardback Children’s Young/Adult increased 16.4% and hardback books from Religious Presses increased 29.3% compared to February 2018.

January – February Trade Revenue by Format (in millions)

	Jan. – Feb. 2019	Jan.- Feb. 2018	Percent Change
Hardback	$357.3	$346.7	3.0%
Paperback & Mass Market	$358.9	$363.1	-1.2%
eBooks	$166.5	$172.5	-3.5%
Downloaded Audio	$90.5	$66.3	36.5%
Physical Audio	$4.9	$6.5	-24.5%
Board Books	$23.4	$20.3	15.2%
Other	$59.2	$52.5	12.6%
Total Trade	$1,060.7	$1,027.9	3.2%

Education and Scholarly Publishing

In February 2019, revenues for participating education and scholarly publishers were $232.8 million, relatively flat (+1.0%) compared to February 2018. Both Higher Education course materials (+10.7%) and University Presses (+6.5%) saw increases year-over-year compared to February 2018.

February Education and Scholarly Publishing (in millions)

	Jan. – Feb. 2019	Jan. – Feb. 2018	Percent Change
Higher Ed Course Materials	$557.4	$556.3	0.2%
PreK-12 Instructional Materials	$119.5	$128.9	-7.3%
Professional Books	$64.4	$79.0	-18.5%
University Presses	$8.5	$9.6	-11.3%
Total	$749.8	$773.8	-3.1%

Publisher net revenue, including sales to bookstores, wholesalers, direct to consumer, online retailers, etc., is tracked monthly by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and includes revenue from about 1,373 publishers, with participation subject to change over time. The StatShot Annual, Higher Education Annual, and PreK-12 Annual reports for 2017 are available for purchase; additional information about them can be found here.

image by cybrgrl via Flickr