Modest Gains at Mid Year
by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 8/8/2005
Category
Change June
% Change YTD
Adult Hardcover
-29.0%
2.0%
Adult Paperback
8.1
7.9
Adult Mass Market
-15.5
-3.4
Children's Hardcover
20.9
32.6
Children's Paperback
37.9
7.8
Audio Books
-5.8
14.2
Electronic Books
25.4
36.1
Religious Books
18.9
-2.5
Higher Education
3.2
4.7
Univ. Pr. Hardcover
56.3
-23.9
Univ. Pr. Paperback
53.8
-14.5
Professional
21.3
6.3
Elhi
6.3
5.0
(Measured in $ sales against same time periods, 2004)
At the midway point of 2005, the children's hardcover segment had the largest gain among the print segments measured in the AAP's monthly sales estimates. Sales in the children's hardcover category were up 32.6% in the first half of the year, a figure sure to rise when more of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince sales are counted in July. On the adult side, sales in the trade paperback segment rose 7.9% in the first six months, while hardcover sales rose 2.0%. Mass market sales were down 3.4% in the period. The religious book segment had a strong June, helping to limit the sales decline in the first six months to 2.5%. In all, sales were down in four segments in the first half of the year and up in nine.
