January Sales Sluggish

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.