After posting a 14% sales increase in September, the 1,324 publishers that file financial results to AAP’s StatShot program reported a 6.7% gain in October over a year ago. Adult fiction sales had the largest increase, up 11.3% over October 2024, and sales at religious presses increased 10.6%. The children’s/YA fiction category was the only segment that had a decline, with sales down 6.7%. Sales of professional books were flat in the month.
The back-to-back monthly sales increases are likely due in part to Amazon returning to a more normal buying pattern, with several publishers saying that Amazon’s sales had been off in the summer. Wiley, for instance, mentioned the change in Amazon’s buying patterns in its most recent quarterly report, but added that sales at the online retailer had begun to improve in recent months.
Total sales of adult books were up 6% in October with nonfiction up 0.6%, complementing the 11.3% increase in fiction. For the entire adult segment, sales of hardcovers and digital audio led the sales gains with sales rising 8.8% and 8.1%, respectively. Trade paperback sale rose 3.5% and e-book sales increased 3.2%.
In children’s/YA, the decline in fiction sales offset a 5% increase in nonfiction, resulting in drop of 4.7% for the entire segment in the month. Sales were down across all formats, with hardcover and e-book sales having the largest declines at 7.8% and 13%, respectively.
With the improved sales in September and October, sales for all reporting publishers inched up 0.4% in the first 10 months of the year over 2024. The total includes nearly $4 billion in the “other” category, which houses revenue from the higher education course materials and PreK–12 instructional materials categories.
