May 24, 2010, New York, NY: Book sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for the month of March increased by 16.6 percent at $458.2 million and were up by 8.0 percent for the year.
The Adult Hardcover category was up by 15.1 percent in March with sales of $92.0 million; year-to-date sales were up by 3.7 percent. Adult Paperback sales increased 38.2 percent for the month ($123.2 million) and went up by 23.5 percent for the year. The Adult Mass Market category decreased 18.1 percent for March with sales totaling $53.6 million; sales were also down by 6.6 percent year-to-date. The Children's/YA Hardcover category declined 12.3 percent for the month with sales of $45.4 million, and sales for year-to-date were down by 35.2 percent. The Children's/YA Paperback category increased by 6.1 percent in March with sales totaling $47.0 million; sales fell 8.5 percent for the year.
Audio Book sales posted an increase of 8.6 percent in March with sales totaling $9.8 million; sales for the whole year were up by 14.7 percent. Downloaded Audio Books increased 29.3 percent at sales of $6.2 million; the category was also up 32.5 percent year-to-date. E-book sales jumped up 184.8 percent for the month ($28.5 million), reflecting an increase of 251.9 percent for the year. Religious Books were up 7.0 percent for the month with sales totaling $49.5 million; sales were down by 3.5 percent for the year.
Sales of University Press Hardcover books reflected an 8.9 percent increase in March with sales of $4.8 million; sales decreased by 1.5 percent for the year. University Press Paperback sales posted a gain of 13.3 percent for the month with sales totaling $2.7 million; sales were down 2.7 percent for the year. Sales in the Professional and Scholarly category rose by 27.3 percent in March ($48.0 million) and were up by 14.3 percent for the year.
Higher Education publishing sales dropped 2.1 percent for the month ($-54.2 million) but increased 18.3 percent for the year. Finally, the K-12 El-Hi (elementary/high school) category posted total net sales of $123.8 million, down 12.4 percent from March 2009, and year-to-date sales were $320.4 million, an 11.9 percent increase.