Booksales fell 1.8% in 2009 to $23.9 billion, according to estimates released thismorning by the Association of American Publishers. Figures are based on reportsfrom 86 publishers who participate in the AAP's statistics program and Bureauof the Census data. The decline in 2009 follows a 2.6% drop in 2008. Tradesales were nearly flat in the year, slipping 0.1%, to $8.1 billion as adult hardcoversales rose 6.9% and children's paperback sales increased 2.2%. Sales of tradepaperback declined 5.2% and children's hardcover sales fell 5.0%. The star ofthe year, of course, was the e-book category that AAP estimates grew 176.6%, to$313.2 million.
Inother categories, mass market paperback revenue fell 4.0%, to $1.0 billion, andbook club and mail order sales dropped 2.0%. Sales in the religious bookcategory are estimated to have declined 9.0%, to $658.7 million. Sales ofspokenword audio were reported down 12.9% (The Audio Publishers Associationwill issue its own statistics in late May).
Salesin higher education rose 12.9% to $4.3 billion, but sales in the elhi segmentdeclined 13.8%, to $5.2 billion. Professional book sales fell 2.9%, to $3.3billion.
The AAP estimates that total book sales grew at acompound growth rate of 1.1% in the 2002 through 2009 period.
