April 14, 2017
Publisher Revenue for Trade Books Up 10.2% in November 2016
Religious Presses and Children and Young Adult Books had Double-Digit Growth Nov. 2016 vs. Nov. 2015
Washington, DC; April 14, 2017 – Trade publisher revenue was up in all categories (Adult, Childrens/YA and Religious Presses) in Nov. 2016 vs. Nov. 2015, according to the most recent StatShot data from the Association of American Publishers. The 10.2% growth for the month was split between a 6.8% bump in the largest trade category – Adult Books (up $32.6 million) and double-digit growth of 16.2% in Childrens/YA (up $30.7 million) and 21.7% in Religious Presses (up $9.5 million). From Jan. – Nov. 2016, revenues from Trade Books were flat, with 0.5% growth, compared to the same 11 months in 2015.
While the educational and course material market continued to struggle, with declining revenues for Nov. 2016, the growth in Trade Books offset it and overall publisher revenue in all tracked categories was positive for the month – up 1.7%. Year-to-date, the revenues remained down by 5.7% compared to the same 11 months in 2015.
StatShot tracks revenues for 1,200 publishers in the following categories: Trade – fiction/non-fiction/religious, PreK-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses. Publisher revenues include sales to bookstores, wholesalers, direct to consumer, online retailers, etc.
Trade Books
From Jan. – Nov. 2016 vs. the same time in 2015 trade books were flat at 0.5% growth year-to-date.
- By Category:
- Adult Books were down 2.1% to $4.4 billion
- Childrens & YA Books were up 5.8% to $1.6 billion
- Religious Presses were up 8.6% to $455.4 million
- By Format
- Paperback books grew 6.5% to $2.0 billion
- Hardback books grew 2.1% $2.5 billion
- Downloaded audio grew 29.2% to $244.1 million
- eBooks were down 16.4% to $1.1 billion
Educational Materials and Professional Books
- Educational Materials had a revenue loss of 9.0% for PreK-12 Instructional Materials and 11.5% for Higher Education Course Materials from Jan. – Nov. 2016 vs. the same time in 2015
- Professional Publishing was down 21.1% From Jan. – Nov. 2016 vs. the same time in 2015. These categories include business, medical, law, scientific and technical books. University presses were down 2.5% for the 11 months.
About StatShot
Publisher net revenue is tracked monthly by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and includes sales data from more than 1,200 publishers (#AAPStats). Figures represent publishers’ net revenue for the U.S. (i.e. what publishers sell to bookstores, direct to consumer, online venues, etc.), and are not retailer/consumer sales figures.
About AAP
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) represents about four hundred member organizations including major commercial, digital learning and education and professional publishers alongside independents, non-profits, university presses and scholarly societies. We represent the industry’s priorities on policy, legislative and regulatory issues regionally, nationally and worldwide. These include the protection of intellectual property rights and worldwide copyright enforcement, digital and new technology issues, funding for education and libraries, tax and trade, censorship and literacy. Find us online at www.publishers.org or on twitter at @AmericanPublish.