August 18, 2022
AAP June 2022 StatShot Report: Publishing Industry Down 1.6% Year-To-Date and Down 0.2% for June
Trade (Consumer Book) Revenues Up 0.4% in June, While Down 0.8% Year-to-Date
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for June 2022 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing. The report does not include PreK-12 revenue due to delays in data collection but will be updated as soon as that data becomes available.
Total revenues across all categories, excluding PreK-12, for June 2022 were down 0.2% as compared to June 2021, coming in at $895.0 million. Year-to-date revenues were down 1.6%, at $5.5 billion for the first six months of the year.
Trade (Consumer Books) Revenues
Trade (Consumer Books) sales were up 0.4% in June, coming in at $652.7 million.
In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of June, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were down 10.9%, coming in at $181.3 million; Paperbacks were up 9.0%, with $253.9 million in revenue; Mass Market was up 16.9% to $21.4 million; while Special Bindings were down 23.8%, with $11.0 million in revenue.
eBook revenues were down 6.3% for the month as compared to June 2021 for a total of $83.0 million. The Downloaded Audio format was up 9.8% for June, coming in at $72.4 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 44.1% coming in at $1.0 million.
Year-to-date Trade revenues were down 0.8%, at $4.2 billion for the first six months of the year. Hardback revenues were down 7.9%, coming in at $1.4 billion; Paperbacks were up 9.0%, with $1.5 billion in revenue; Mass Market was down 20.9% to $95.5 million; and Special Bindings were down 1.0%, with $79.8 million in revenue.
eBook revenues were down 8.5% as compared to the first six months of 2021 for a total of $500.4 million. The Downloaded Audio format was up 3.8%, coming in at $400.6 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 36.4% coming in at $7.1 million.
Religious Presses
Religious press revenues were down 1.6% in June, coming in at $47.2 million. Hardback revenues were down 5.2% to $24.3 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were up 2.6% to $8.8 million, eBook revenues were down 5.3% coming in at $4.6 million, and Downloaded Audio revenues were up 6.2% at $4.0 million.
On a year-to-date basis, religious press revenues were down 3.4%, reaching $351.0 million. Hardback revenues were down 5.9% at $201.8 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were up 4.7% to $60.4 million, eBook revenues were down 12.1% at $27.8 million, and Downloaded Audio revenues were up 1.9% at $21.5 million.
Education
During June 2022 revenues from Higher Education Course Materials were $196.9 million, down 2.0% compared with June 2021. Year-to-date Higher Education Course Materials revenues were $1.1 billion, down 5.0% compared to the first six months of 2021.
The performance of the Education categories during this month may reflect multiple factors, including rebounding business post-COVID.
Professional Books
Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, were up 5.1% during the month, coming in at $37.0 million. Year-to-date Professional Books revenues were $197.8 million, up 1.5% as compared to the first six months of 2021.
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 1,368 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.