May was a bad month for publishers, with sales down in most of the major categories compared to the same month last year. Within the adult books category, hardcover sales fell 17.3%, while mass market paperback sales plunged 40.3% and e-book sales declined 4.4%. A bright spot was sales of downloads of audiobooks, which jumped 62.4%. Total sales in the children’s/YA category fell 9.3%, as e-book sales tumbled 53.5% and hardcover sales dropped 18.9%. For the first five months of 2015, adult e-book sales were down 3.7% compared to the same period in 2014, while e-book sales in the children’s/YA segment fell 43.3%. Among the trade categories, audiobook downloads had the best performance in the five-month period, with sales up 42.0%.

Category Change May YTD
Adult Hard -17.3% -5.0%
Adult Paper 13.4% 11.7%
Mass Market -40.3% -4.2%
Physical Audio -16.5% 7.5%
Audio Download 62.4% 42.0%
Adult E-book -4.4% -3.7%
Children’s/YA -9.3% -14.2%
Religious Presses -13.1% -10.3%
Professional -8.1% 5.9%
K–12 Materials -12.1% -5.0%
Higher Ed. -20.9% -21.7%
University Presses 3.8% -4.0%

(Comparisons of $ sales against same periods in 2014)