Hardcover Drives Kids' Sales
by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 2/16/2004
Figures supplied by 14 children's book publishers to the AAP show total children's sales rose 12.5% in 2003, to $891 million. While the addition of sales from other publishers will change the sales gain in the year, 2003 will still prove to be a much better year than 2002, when sales increased only 1% over 2001. The primary driver of the sales increase in 2003, of course, was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which helped push hardcover sales from the 14 reporting companies (including Scholastic) up 28.3%, to $535 million. Paperback sales from the reporting companies fell 5% in the year, to $356 million. The companies that supplied figures to the AAP are estimated to account for 40% to 50% of total children's sales.
