January Sales Sluggish
by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 3/22/2004
While the adult hardcover and religion book segments enjoyed strong gains in January, most other print categories had a weak month, according to AAP's monthly estimates. Driven by strong bestseller sales, adult hardcover sales rose 45.2% in January, while sales in the religion segment increased 35.2%. An 8.6% increase in basal sales helped to offset a 1.2% drop in supplementary sales, resulting in a 4.7% gain for the elhi segment. E-books continued to show strong growth from a small base, with sales up 158% in January. The mass market paperback segment had the worst January performance, with sales down 23.8%. Children's paperback sales were also down by double digits, dropping 14.1% in January.
| Category | % Change January |
| Adult Hardcover | 45.2 |
| Adult Paperback | -5.6 |
| Adult Mass Market | -23.8 |
| Juvenile Hardcover | -0.5 |
| Juvenile Paperback | -14.1 |
| Audio Books | 34.2 |
| Electronic Books | 158.0 |
| Religion Books | 35.2 |
| Higher Education | -4.7 |
| University Press Hardcover | -2.8 |
| University Press Paperback | -7.9 |
| Total Professional | -9.0 |
| Elhi | 4.7 |
| (Measured in $ sales against same time periods, 2003) |
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