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By David Rothman

imageSales of e-books from publishers tracked grew 213.5 percent from same month last year to $16.2 million, says a news release from the Association of American Publishers.

The AAP and the International Digital Publishing Forum don’t follow all publishers, and the e-book numbers exclude categories such as library sales. So these figures are useful mainly for comparison’s sake. Also see IDPF stats. These are U.S. wholsesale sales.

The $16.2M is awesome compared to $37.6M for the entire second quarter. Remember, summer can be a slow period. Full release from the AAP follows. Chart, covering quarters from 2002 to Q2 2009, is from the IDPF. Long term and short term, what do you think are the main growth drivers? And which platform has mattered the most? The Kindle? Or the iPhone?

Update, 1:49 p.m.: The IDPF has just released more further analysis, and I’ll repro it under the AAP news release. June sales, according to the group, were $14M, the highest previous month. Calendar year to date sales are up 173 percent.

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AAP news release…

New York, NY, September 23, 2009— Book sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for the month of July increased by 2.0 percent at $1.54 billion and were up by 1.9 percent for the year.

The Adult Hardcover category was up by 6.9 percent in July with sales of $88.7 million; year-to-date sales were down by 15.5 percent. Adult Paperback sales increased 9.0 percent for the month ($124.0 million) but decreased by 11.2 percent for the year. The Adult Mass Market category was down 13.5 percent for July with sales totaling $68.2 million; sales were down by 5.3 percent year-to-date. The Children’s/YA Hardcover category decreased by 5.4 percent for the month with sales of $55.8 million, but sales for year-to-date were up by 22.2 percent. The Children’s/YA Paperback category was up by 4.1 percent in July with sales totaling $58.2 million; sales increased by 2.0 percent for the year.

Audio Book sales posted an increase of 3.5 percent in July with sales totaling $11.7 million; sales to-date decreased by 29.9 percent. E-books sales reached $16.2 million, reflecting a 213.5 percent increase for July, and a 173.9 percent year to-date. Religious Books saw a decrease of 9.3 percent for the month with sales totaling $42.4 million; sales were down by 8.1 percent for the year.

Sales of University Press Hardcover books reflected a 15.1 percent decrease in July with sales of $5.2 million; sales decreased by 8.6 percent for the year. University Press Paperback sales posted a decrease of 3.2 percent for the month with sales totaling $8.8 million; sales were down 5.5 percent for the year. Sales in the Professional and Scholarly category were up by 13.2 percent in July ($117.7 million) but decreased by 2.3 percent for the year.

Higher Education publishing sales rose by 0.9 percent for the month ($941.5 million) and increased 19.0 percent for the year. Finally, the net El-Hi (elementary/high school) basal and supplemental K-12 category posted a decrease of 32.2 percent in July with sales of $675.9 million; the category was down by 27.6 percent for the year.

The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies—small and large. AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software, and electronic products and services. The protection of intellectual property rights in all media, the defense of the freedom to read and the freedom to publish at home and abroad, and the promotion of reading and literacy are among the Association’s highest priorities.

NOTE: All sales figures cited in this release are domestic net sales

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IDPF analysis follows.

 

Dear IDPF Members,

 

eBook sales statistics for July 2009 have been released from the Association of American Publishers (AAP) who collects these statistics in conjunction with the IDPF.

Trade eBook sales were $16,200,000 for July, a 213.5% increase over July 2008 ($5,200,000).

Calendar Year to Date sales are up + 173.9%

 

Note:

  • July 2009 wholesale trade sales were $16,200,000 which is highest single month thus far. June 2009 wholesale trade was previous high at $14,000,000

 

If you are a Trade Publisher tracking eBook Sales, please consider sharing your eBook sales figures with AAP Program.

To submit sales data to the AAP Program please contact:

 

Richard Barclay

Management Practice, Inc.

rbarclay@mpiweb.com

 

The statistics, historical data and information about the numbers can be viewed at:

http://www.idpf.org/doc_library/industrystats.htm

 

Please keep in mind the following:

  • This data represents United States revenues only
  • This data represents only trade eBook sales via wholesale channels.  Retail numbers may be as much as double the above figures due to industry wholesale discounts.
  • This data represents only data submitted from approx. 12 to 15 trade publishers
  • This data does not include library, educational or professional electronic sales
  • The numbers reflect the wholesale revenues of publishers
  • The definition used for reporting electronic book sales is "All books delivered electronically over the Internet OR to hand-held reading devices"
  • The IDPF and AAP began collecting data together starting in Q1 2006

Have a Great Day!

Michael

 

Michael Smith

Executive Director

International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF)

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