At Boothbay Harbor, Maine, on July 7. Image – Getty: Rabbitti
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Big Gains in Digital Audio
In its July 2024 StatShot report released this morning (October 8), the Association of American Publishers (AAP) cites total revenues across all categories up 18.1 percent over July 2023.
Year-to-date revenues, the AAP reports, were up 7.6 percent at US$7.8 billion for the first seven months of this year.
As Publishing Perspectives readers know, the AAP’s numbers reflect reported revenue for tracked categories including trade (consumer books); religious presses; educational course materials; and professional publishing.
Authors of the July 2024 AAP StatShot report point out that, “Nearly all categories experienced an uptick year-over-year.”
In the trade category, adult book net sales rose by 23.9 percent in July, compared to the same month in 2023. Both fiction and nonfiction contributed significantly to this growth, with fiction sales up 25.8 percent and nonfiction up 21.4 percent. This contributed to a 9.0-percent year-to-date increase in adult book sales, with fiction growing by 13.4 percent and nonfiction by 4.0 percent.
In children’s and young adult (YA) book, net sales increased by 15.3 percent year over year. Within this sub-category, fiction sales grew 21.0 percent and nonfiction decreased by 6.7 percent. Year to date, this sub-category remains relatively flat with a 0.5-percent decrease.
Trade Revenues
Image: Association of American Publishers
Year-Over-Year Numbers
Trade revenues were up 22.3 percent in July over the same month last year, at $750.2 million.
In print formats:
- Hardback revenues were up 25.5 percent, coming in at $221.4 million
- Paperbacks were up 17.9 percent, with $271.4 million in revenue
- Mass market was down 14.0 percent to $11.2 million
- Special bindings were 13.8 percent, with 19.4 million in revenue
In digital formats:
- Ebook revenues were up 5.1 percent for the month as compared to July 2023 for a total of $89.7 million
- The avidly watched digital audio format was up a commanding 57.7 percent for July, coming in at $109.8 million in revenue.
- Physical audio was down 37.4 percent, coming in at $600,000
Year-to-Date Numbers
Year-to-date, the industry’s trade revenues were 7.2 percent, at $5.1 billion for the first seven months of the year.
In print formats:
- Hardback revenues were up 6.6 percent, coming in at $1.7 billion
- Paperbacks were up 5.8 percent, with $1.8 billion in revenue
- Mass market was down 15.3 percent to $73.3 million
- Special bindings were up 6.5 percent, with $111.5 million in revenue
In digital formats:
- Ebook revenues were up 3.1 percent as compared to the first seven months of 2023 for a total of $597.0 million
- The digital audio format was up 25.1 percent, coming in at $613.3 million in revenue
- Physical audio was down 23.7 percent coming in at $5.1 million
Religious Press Performance
Year-Over-Year Numbers
American religious press revenues were up 32.1 percent in July, coming in at $63.4 million.
- Hardback revenues were up 43.7 percent to $36.6 million in revenue
- Paperback revenues were up 17.1 percent to $13.1 million
- Ebook revenues were up 3.5 percent coming in at $3.9 million
- Digital Audio revenues were up 42.3 percent at $4.8 million
Year-to-Date Numbers
On a year-to date basis, religious press revenues were up 17.5 percent, reaching $477.6 million
- Hardback revenues were up 23.0 percent at $284.6 million in revenue
- Paperback revenues were up 10.6 percent to $94.5 million
- Ebook revenues were up 3.3 percent at $31.7 million
- Digital audio revenues were up 16.6 percent at $30.8 million
Higher Education
During July 2024, revenues from higher education course materials were $207.5 million, up 4.6 percent, compared with July 2023, while year-to-date higher education course materials were $267.5 million, down 1.0 percent as compared to the first seven months of 2023.
Professional Books
Professional books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, were down 0.1 percent during the month, coming in at $38.2 million.
Year-to-date professional books revenues were $267.5 million, down 1.0 percent as compared to the first seven months of 2023.
About the AAP StatShot Reports
Quoting the program’s monthly note, “AAP StatShot reports the monthly and yearly net revenue of publishing houses from US sales to bookstores, wholesalers, direct to consumer, online retailers, and other channels. StatShot draws revenue data from approximately 1,280 publishers, although participation may fluctuate slightly from report to report.
“StatShot reports are designed to give ongoing revenue snapshots across publishing sectors using the best data currently available. The reports reflect participants’ most recent reported revenue for current and previous periods, enabling readers to compare revenue on both a month-to-month and year-to-year basis within a given StatShot report.
“Monthly and yearly StatShot reports may not align completely across reporting periods, because: (a) The pool of StatShot participants may fluctuate from report to report; and (b) Like any business, it is common accounting practice for publishing houses to update and restate their previously reported revenue data. If, for example, a business learns that its revenues were greater in a given year than its reports first indicated, it will restate the revenues in subsequent reports to AAP, permitting AAP in turn to report information that is more accurate than previously reported.”
More from Publishing Perspectives on industry statistics is here. More on the Association of American Publishers is here, more of our coverage of AAP StatShot reports is here, and more on the US market is here.
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