June 7, 2023
AAP March 2023 StatShot Report: Overall Publishing Industry Up 3.2% Year-To-Date, and 6.6% for Month of March
Trade (Consumer Book) Revenues Up 0.2% for Month of March, and 1.1% Year-to-Date
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for March 2023 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing.
Total revenues across all categories for March 2023 were up 6.6% as compared to March 2022, coming in at $883.5 million. Year-to-date revenues were up 3.2%, at $3.2 billion for the first three months of the year.
Trade (Consumer Books) Revenues
March
Trade (Consumer Books) revenues were up 0.2% in March, coming in at $710.9 million.
In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of March, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were down 1.0%, coming in at $243.1 million; Paperbacks were up 0.3%, with $268.2 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 9.5% to $13.0 million; and Special Bindings were up 21.9%, with $18.9 million in revenue.
eBook revenues were up 12.2% for the month as compared to March 2022 for a total of $88.1 million, and the Digital Audio format was up 14.1% for March, coming in at $66.2 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 43.4% coming in at $700 thousand.
Year-to-date
Year-to-date Trade revenues were up 1.1%, at $2.2 billion for the first three months of the year. Hardback revenues were down 2.4%, coming in at $744.4 million; Paperbacks were up 3.0%, with $794.6 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 17.6% to $40.9 million; and Special Bindings were up 0.9%, with $51.6 million in revenue.
eBook revenues were up 3.3% as compared to the first three months of 2023 for a total of $260.7 million. The Digital Audio format was up 18.4%, coming in at $211.8 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 30.1% coming in at $2.5 million.
Religious Presses
March
Religious press revenues were up 2.3% in March, coming in at $64.1 million. Hardback revenues were down 5.8% to $35.5 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were up 7.9% to $12.7 million, eBook revenues were down 10.9% coming in at $5.0 million, and Digital Audio revenues were up 36.7% at $3.9 million.
Year-to-date
On a year-to-date basis, religious press revenues were up 3.1%, reaching $211.3 million. Hardback revenues were up 1.3% at $123.8 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were up 4.5% to $42.3 million, eBook revenues were down 6.0% at $14.9 million, and Digital Audio revenues were up 16.9% at $11.6 million.
Education
During March 2023 revenues from Higher Education Course Materials were $121.0 million, up 74.0% compared with March 2022. Year-to-date Higher Education Course Materials revenues were $827.2 million, up 10.8% compared to the first three months of 2022.
Professional Books
Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, were up 7.9% during the month, coming in at $41.5 million. Year-to-date Professional Books revenues were $125.7 million, down 2.3% as compared to the first three months of 2022.
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.