News

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report covering the first three months of 2024 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Religious Presses, Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing.

Total revenues across all categories for the first quarter of the year were up 0.2% as compared to the first three months of 2023, coming in at $3 billion.

Trade (Consumer Books) Revenues for First Quarter of 2024

Trade (Consumer Books) sales were down 2.8% during the first three months of the year, coming in at $2.1 billion.

In terms of physical paper format revenues during the first quarter, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were down 4.9%, coming in at $733.2 million; Paperbacks were down 3.4%, with $756.1 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 25.7% to $31.0 million; and Special Bindings were down 7.8%, with $48.5 million in revenue.

eBook revenues were down 1.5% as compared to the first three months of 2023, for a total of $255.6 million. Digital Audio was up 15.3% for the first three months, coming in at $243.6 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 29.1% coming in at $2.1 million.

Trade (Consumer Books) Revenues by Month

January

Trade (Consumer Books) sales were up 0.6% in January, coming in at $745.8 million. In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of January, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were down 0.8%, coming in at $268.8 million; Paperbacks were down 2.1%, with $264.4 million in revenue; Mass Market was up 7.4% to $13.6 million; and Special Bindings were up 4.9%, with $17.1 million in revenue.

February

Trade (Consumer Books) sales were up 0.6% in February, coming in at $717.9 million. In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of February, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were up 0.4%, coming in at $245.2 million; Paperbacks were up 2.5%, with $249.1 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 40.7% to $9.3 million; and Special Bindings were down 1.4%, with $16.6 million in revenue.

March

Trade (Consumer Books) sales were down 9.5% in March, coming in at $661.2 million. In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of March, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were down 14.4%, coming in at $219.2 million; Paperbacks were down 10.0%, with $242.6 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 39.6% to $8.2 million; and Special Bindings were down 24.0%, with $14.9 million in revenue.

Religious Presses Up 5.2% First Quarter of 2024

Religious press revenues were up 5.2% during the first three months of 2024, coming in at $215.2 million. Hardback revenues were up 7.6% to $130.1 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were down 0.3% to $42.3 million, eBook revenues were up 6.6% coming in at $15.2 million, and Digital Audio revenues were up 9.5% at $12.7 million.

Education Revenues Climb 11.5% During First Quarter of 2024

During Quarter 1, revenues from Higher Education Course Materials were $691.8 million, up 11.5% compared with Quarter 1 2023.

Within Higher Education Course Materials, Print revenues were up 16.0% at $87.4 million for the quarter. Inclusive Access revenues were up 25.9% at $256.1 million, and Non-Inclusive Access Digital revenues were up 1.8% at $321.3 million.

Professional Books Down 2.9% for First Quarter of 2024

Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, were down 2.9% during the first three months of the year, coming in at $111.5 million.

AAP’s StatShot

AAP StatShot reports the monthly and yearly net revenue of publishing houses from U.S. 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.

Artificial Intelligence, Copyright, and Freedom of Expression are Front and Center for Publishers

On May 9, 2024, the Association of American Publishers hosted its 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM), a virtual program that focused on the industry’s most pressing policy issues—artificial intelligence, copyright, and freedom of expression.   

Keynote Address

The meeting’s keynote was Maria Ressa, a courageous investigative journalist who co-founded and leads the online news company Rappler.  Ms. Ressa joined the meeting from Rome, where she had just arrived for AI meetings with the Vatican.  Earlier in the day, Cannes Lions in France announced that Ms. Ressa is the 2024 recipient of the Cannes LionHeart Award, given to “a person who has harnessed their position to make a significant and positive difference to the world around us."  

In 2021, Ms. Ressa received the Nobel Peace Prize for her fearless work in exposing the dangerous corruption of the Duterte regime in the Philippines.  In awarding the Prize jointly to her and Russian reporter Dmitri Muratov, the committee highlighted their work to “safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition of democracy and lasting peace.”  In 2020, she was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Women of the Century, and in 2018 she was named its Person of the Year.  

During her address, Ms. Ressa shared her research and observations about AI policy, as well as tech policy more generally, focusing on the survival of facts and truth.  “Lies spread faster than facts,” she said, but “inspiration spreads as fast as anger.”  She spoke about journalism as “an antidote to tyranny,” noting that “you cannot have rule of law if you do not have integrity of facts.”  

As she explained, a strong action plan should, among other things, “stop surveillance for profit” and “stop coded bias.”  In closing, she spoke to the immersive nature of books.  “Books are so important,” she said. They’re about "standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Leadership Reports

At the top of the meeting, AAP’s Board Chair YS Chi and President and CEO Maria Pallante delivered back-to-back leadership reports.

“[A] major threat to our industry is the encroachment of freedom of expression,” commented Mr. Chi. “We know that with the privilege of living in a democracy comes with the enormous responsibility of protecting those rights, so that our society can continue to serve as a beacon of freedom and creativity. 

“I am deeply troubled by government efforts to restrict reading and politicize science. But I am also hopeful that by convening crucial conversations like the ones we will witness today and continuing to foster collaboration and vigilance in the publishing industry, we will be able to triumph in the name of our ideals.”

Focusing on the commercial exploitation of Generative AI by Big Tech, Ms. Pallante said,  “Here in Washington, we have never been more aware that technology moves quickly, while law and policy move slowly, as we have never experienced such an enormous gap between law and power.  Not even in the days of the Robber Barons.

“It should come as no surprise that there are 24 AI copyright suits pending in the United States,” she said. “Still, there is no silver bullet for regulating AI.  The goal—to encourage tremendous promise while preventing tremendous harm—presents a Gordian Knot that will remain challenging for even the most skilled policy makers in the world.   

“To protect society, we will need a forward-thinking scheme of legal rules and enforcement authority across numerous jurisdictions and disciplines, not only intellectual property, but also national security, trade, privacy, consumer protection, and human rights, to name a few.  And it will require ethical conduct.”

Executive Vice President of Government Affairs Shelley Husband highlighted some of AAP’s legislative and regulatory priorities across all sectors. She reported on various measures, both state bills and federal regulatory activities, that would depress the market value of published works at the expense of publishers and authors, undermining IP rights in vulnerable digital formats, as well as the future investments of publishers in literature and high-quality course materials, and trusted scholarly content.

General Counsel Terry Hart reported on a range of litigation the AAP has won or is engaged in, from the mass infringement of the Internet Archive to suits against Arkansas and Texas for unconstitutional restrictions on the freedoms to read, write, and publish. 

Rounding out the presentations was technologist and entrepreneur Ed Newton-Rex, CEO of Fairly Trained, who spoke in conversation with Lui Simpson, AAP’s Executive Vice President of Global Policy.   Fairly Trained certifies AI companies that ensure the rights of authors, artists, and publishers by seeking consent for copying and exploitation of their works.  

“Generative AI is a self-reinforcing ecosystem where a couple of companies led the way with exploitative practices,” Mr. Newton-Rex said, “but not every company agrees. What I want to do is move the world towards licensing, especially because the alternative is an existential threat to the creative industries.”  To date, Fairly Trained has certified 13 technology companies.

Distinguished Public Service Award 

Always a highlight, AAP once again presented its Distinguished Public Service Award during the meeting, this year to Congressman Darrell Issa of California’s 48^th Congressional District, who is Chairman of the House Intellectual Property Subcommittee. The Award honors individuals who have made “outstanding contributions to the public good by advancing laws or policies that respect the value, creation and publication of original works of authorship.” 

A champion of copyright throughout his career, Mr. Issa is a senior member of the bipartisan House Task Force on AI.

“[It] has been a pleasure to champion the publishing industry and the broader creative industries,” he said in his video acceptance.  He also spoke of the challenges facing the industry, including the emergence of artificial intelligence, saying that “AI cannot be a means to weaken IP protections.”  

Sponsorships

AAP thanks the event sponsors Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Industry Insights, Capitol Advisors Group, Bowker, Total Compensation Solutions, and Withum.

About AAP

AAP | The Association of American Publishers represents the leading book, journal, and education publishers in the United States on matters of law and policy, advocating for outcomes that incentivize the publication of creative expression, professional content, and learning solutions. As essential participants in local markets and the global economy, our members invest in and inspire the exchange of ideas, transforming the world we live in one word at a time. Find us online at publishers.org or on Twitter and Instagram at @AmericanPublish.

On April 19, 2024, the Association of American Publishers, joined by the American Booksellers for Free Expression, Authors Guild, Inc., Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Educational Book and Media Association, Freedom to Learn Advocates, Half Price Books, Records, Magazines, Inc., Independent Book Publishers Association, National Press Photographers Association, National Writers Union and Sisters in Crime, filed an amicus brief in Iowa in support of the plaintiffs in two lawsuits, filed in November 2023, challenging provisions of SF 496, a 2023 law that violates constitutional standards by censoring books for students in a vague and overbroad fashion. 

The lawsuits, Penguin Random House, LLC. v. Robbins and GLBT Youth in IA Schools, Etc. v. Reynolds, were filed in November 2023 by plaintiff groups that include publishers, renowned authors, educators, and students. The original filing by Penguin Random House has since been joined by Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster and Sourcebooks. Among other problems, the law prohibits any K-12 public school in Iowa from maintaining a “library program” containing “any material with descriptions or visual depictions” of a “sex act” no matter how innocuous or brief, and with no variation for the age of the minor or consideration of the value of the work as a whole. In practice, hundreds of books have been pulled from library shelves as a result, including timeless classics by authors such as James Joyce, William Faulkner, Aldous Huxley, and Richard Wright, and award-winning books by contemporary authors such as Toni Morrison, Malinda Lo, Sapphire, John Green, Jodi Picoult, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Maya Angelou.

Amicus brief excerpts include:

• “The reach of SF 496…will have a direct impact on the ability of the wide range of writers, artists, publishers, distributors, new organizations, and retailers that amici represent to write, create, publish, produce, distribute, and sell books and literary works of all types, including materials that are scholarly, journalistic, educational, artistic, scientific, and entertaining. This will be felt certainly within the state of Iowa and with potential nationwide ramifications if this law is upheld.”

• “SF 496 provides a legal basis for eliminating a substantial portion of the history of human creativity from school library shelves.”

• “SF 496 does not take into account the work as a whole [as required by the test the Supreme Court set out in Miller/Ginsberg], a fatal flaw in the law.

• “SF 496 is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad because, among other things, it does not adequately indicate what constitutes a “description or visual depiction of a sex act” that would trigger the material as inappropriate for a minor ranging in age from 5 to 18. . . . [It] is so broad that it could include images that illustrate sensitive, historical, political, or health-related topics in a news article.”

The full amicus brief can be found here.

Princeton University Press, Cambridge University Press, Duke University Press, and The MIT Press Honored with Excellence Awards

Top PROSE Awards Prize, The R.R. Hawkins Award, goes to Princeton University Press’ The Voices of Nature: How and Why Animals Communicate

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today announced the four Excellence winners of its annual PROSE Awards, which recognize best-in-class scholarly publications in four categories: Biological & Life Sciences, Humanities, Physical Sciences & Mathematics, and Social Sciences. 

AAP also announced that the program’s top prize, the prestigious R.R. Hawkins Award, has been awarded to Princeton University Press for The Voices of Nature: How and Why Animals Communicate.

“We congratulate this year’s winners from Princeton University Press, Cambridge University Press, Duke University Press, and The MIT Press, who illustrate the incredible quality and innovation that is representative of PROSE Award for Excellence winners,” commented Syreeta Swann, Chief Operating Officer at the Association of American Publishers. “Taken as a whole, this year’s winners illustrate the power and importance of scholarly publishing, combining detailed research, concise prose, and inventive approaches that make these works truly compelling for both expert and lay readers. We thank our judges for their tireless work in determining our PROSE Award for Excellence Winners, and all who entered for their contributions to the field of scholarly and professional publishing.”

R.R. Hawkins Award Winner

“Princeton University Press is honored to accept the R.R. Hawkins Award, and humbled to do so for a second year in a row. We are grateful to the PROSE judges for their engaged reading—and listening!—and to our peer presses for their inspired publishing,” notes Christie Henry, Director of Princeton University Press. “Nicolas Mathevon entrusted to our team this extraordinary work, The Voices of Nature: How and Why Animals Communicate, which opens all of our senses to the ways in which sounds and communication shape culture, community and environment. It’s a thrill to amplify its impact with this award.”

“The Voices of Nature: How and Why Animals Communicate, is as inventive as it is trailblazing, combining accessible writing with a unique online audio tie-in to create a truly immersive experience,” commented PROSE Chief Judge Nigel Fletcher-Jones, PhD. “I have every confidence that this innovative approach will dramatically expand the understanding bioacoustics, and provide an invaluable tool for scholars and readers of all kinds.”

Excerpts from The Voices of Nature: How and Why Animals Communicate:

On the origins of Song:

"When we were vulnerable beings with limited weaponry, as we were until very recently, we kept predators at bay by increasing the range and diversity of our vocalizations…this type of antipredator strategy would explain the polyphonic songs sung, especially on moonless nights, in certain hunter-gatherer societies (among the Hadza and Ba Yaka of sub-Saharan Africa, for example)...if each one of us pitches in with some polyphonic variations, the predator will have the impression that these humans are particularly numerous and will not dare approach.”

On Bird-Human Collaboration:

The honeyguide is “in the habit of leading hive hunters to the object of their common lust. How does it proceed? By calling and flying from one tree to another, patiently waiting for the humans to catch up. When all have arrived at their destination, the hunters, protected from the bees by clothing and equipped with tools, open the hive to extract the honey from it, leaving the wax combs in plain sight, which their winged guide delights in as they leave.”

The Voices of Nature: How and Why Animals Communicate is accompanied by an innovative audio tie-in site that immerses readers in the world of the animals they are learning about. That site can be found here.

2024 PROSE Excellence Winners are as follows:

R.R. Hawkins Award Winner & PROSE Award for Excellence in Biological and Life Sciences

• The Voices of Nature: How and Why Animals Communicate, Nicolas Mathevon, Princeton University Press

PROSE Award for Excellence in Social Sciences 

• Residual Governance: How South Africa Foretells Planetary Futures, Gabrielle Hecht, Duke University Press

PROSE Award for Excellence in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

• Mnemonic Ecologies: Memory and Nature Conservation along the Former Iron Curtain, Sonja K. Pieck, The MIT Press

PROSE Award for Excellence in Humanities 

• Giotto's Arena Chapel and the Triumph of Humility, Henrike Christiane Lange, Cambridge University Press

About the PROSE Awards

Since 1976, the AAP’s PROSE Awards have recognized publishers who produce books, journals, and digital products of extraordinary merit that make a significant contribution to a field of study. 

During the 2024 PROSE cycle our panel of 25 PROSE judges selected 118 finalists and 41 category winners. Of the 41 exceptional category winners, today’s Award for Excellence Award Winners and R.R. Hawkins Winner illustrate the extraordinary quality of scholarly publishing and contribute novel ideas to their respective areas of study.

More information about the 2024 PROSE Awards can be found here.

Trade (Consumer Book) Revenues Down 1.2% for Month of December, and 0.3% for Full Calendar Year

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for December 2023 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Religious Presses, Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing.

Total revenues across all categories for December 2023 were down 2.5% as compared to December 2022, coming in at $920.7 million. Year-to-date revenues were up 0.4%, at $12.6 billion for the year of 2023.

Trade (Consumer Books) Revenues

Calendar 2023

Trade revenues were down 0.3%, at $8.9 billion for the calendar year. Hardback revenues were up 0.4%, coming in at $3.3 billion; Paperbacks were down 2.0%, with $3.1 billion in revenue; Mass Market was down 22.9% to $140.0 million; and Special Bindings were up 2.2%, with $210.0 million in revenue.

eBook revenues were up 0.6% as compared to 2022 for a total of $1.0 billion. The Digital Audio format was up 14.9%, coming in at $864.0 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 16.2% coming in at $12.9 million.

December 2023

Trade (Consumer Books) sales were down 1.2% in December, coming in at $719.0 million.

In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of December, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were down 8.6%, coming in at $245.3 million; Paperbacks were down 7.2%, with $244.0 million in revenue; Mass Market was up 5.4% to $11.0 million; and Special Bindings were down 14.2%, with $18.1 million in revenue.

eBook revenues were up 16.3% for the month as compared to December 2022 for a total of $90.3 million. Digital Audio was up 24.5% for December, coming in at $81.9 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 7.8% coming in at $1.1 million.

Religious Presses

Calendar 2023

For the calendar year 2023, religious press revenues were up 7.8%, reaching $819.7 million. Hardback revenues were up 6.7% at $493.2 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were up 11.1% to $162.8 million, eBook revenues were down 3.3% at $53.8 million, and Digital Audio revenues were up 8.5% at $45.6 million. 

December 2023

Religious press revenues were up 0.3% in December, coming in at $60.9 million. Hardback revenues were down 1.6% to $36.0 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were up 3.9% to $12.2 million, eBook revenues were down 4.7% coming in at $3.7 million, and Digital Audio revenues were up 21.7% at $3.8 million.

Education

Calendar 2023

For the calendar year 2023, Higher Education Course Materials revenues were $3.0 billion, up 3.2% compared to 2022.

December 2023

During December 2023 revenues from Higher Education Course Materials were $149.6 million, down 5.2% compared with December 2022.

Professional Books

Calendar 2023

Professional Books revenues for calendar year 2023 were $457.8 million, down 3.9% as compared to 2022.

December 2023

Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, were down 1.7% during the month of December, coming in at $37.4 million.

AAP’s StatShot

AAP StatShot reports the monthly and yearly net revenue of publishing houses from U.S. sales to bookstores, wholesalers, direct to consumer, online retailers, and other channels. StatShot draws revenue data from approximately 1,240 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.