November 9, 2021
AAP AUGUST 2021 STATSHOT REPORT: PUBLISHING INDUSTRY UP 9.8% FOR MONTH, AND 14.4% YEAR TO DATE
Trade (Consumer Book) Revenues up 17.6% in August, and up 16.1% Year to Date
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for August 2021 reflecting reported revenue for all tracked categories, including Trade (Consumer Books), K-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing.
Total revenues across all categories for August 2021 were up 9.8% as compared to August 2020, coming in at $1.95 billion. Year to date revenues were up 14.4%, at $9.9 billion for the first eight months of the year.
Trade (Consumer Books) Revenues
Trade (Consumer Books) sales were up 17.6% in August, coming in at $822.8 million, and up 16.1% year to date, with $5.7 billion in revenue.
In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of August, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were up 14.3%, coming in at $297.8 million; Paperbacks were up 36.1%, with $295.1 million in revenue; Mass Market was up 21.5% to $17.7 million; and Board Books were up 41.0%, with $21.1 million in revenue.
eBook revenues were down 12.3% for the month as compared to August of 2020 for a total of $88.3 million. The Downloaded Audio format was up 9.6% for August, coming in at $64.3 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 31.8% coming in at $1.5 million.
Year to date, Hardback revenues were up 20.1%, coming in at $2.05 billion; Paperbacks were up 20.9%, with $1.9 billion in revenue; Mass Market was up 9.6% to $160.9 million; and Board Books were up 13.6%, with $119.1 million in revenue.
eBook revenues were down 4.0% as compared to the first eight months of 2020 for a total of $718.0 million. The Downloaded Audio format was up 15.5%, coming in at $504.8 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 2.0% coming in at $14.0 million.
Religious Presses
Religious press revenues were up 23.2% in August, coming in at $65.6 million. Hardback revenues were up 32.7% at $41.1 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were up 22.8% at $9.8 million, and Mass Market revenues were down 3.5% at $200 thousand.
On a year-to date basis, religious press revenues were up 12.9%, at $444.7 million. Hardback revenues were up 16.2% at $269.9 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were up 7.4% at $66.7 million, and Mass Market revenues were down 5.7% at $1.1 million.
Education
During August of 2021 Education revenues were $1.1 billion, up 4.8% compared with August of 2020. Year to date education revenues were $3.9 billion, up 12.8% as compared to the first eight months of 2020.
Revenues from Higher Education Course Materials were down 10.6% for the month, as compared to August of 2020, coming in at $603.4 million. Year to date Higher Education was up 1.1%, at $2.2 billion.
PreK-12 Instructional Materials revenues were up 34.1% for August 2021, at $476.2 million. Year to date PreK-12 revenues were up 32.3%, coming in at $1.7 billion. More in-depth information on PreK-12 Books and Materials Monthly is included in AAP’s PreK-12 monthly report.
The performance of the Education categories during this month may reflect multiple factors, including rebounding business post-COVID. In addition, the percentage increase between August 2020 and August 2021 reflects the fact that school districts delayed purchases until later in the year during the pandemic.
Professional Books
Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, were up 2.1% during the month, coming in at $34.4 million. Year to date Professional Books revenues were $260.4 million, up 7.2% as compared to the first eight months of 2020.
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