Sales of adult trade books rose 9.5% last November over November 2014 at the trade houses that report figures to AAP’s monthly StatShot program. The increase was led by a 31.4% jump in sales of trade paperbacks (the format for adult coloring books) and a 27.1% rise in sales of downloadable audio. Adult e-book sales fell 14.9%. For the first 11 months of 2015, sales of adult trade titles were up 3.1% again, led by the trade paperback (up 16.1%) and downloadable audio (up 40.3%) categories. November sales in the children’s and young adult segment rose 7.9%, driven by a 55.4% jump in board book sales, which offset a 28% drop in e-book sales. Sales in the first 11 months of 2015 in the segment were down 3.8% compared to the same period in 2014. Sales for all 1,205 publishers that reported results to the AAP were up 1.8% in November, but were down 2.6% in the January–November period. Aside from the 3.1% sales increase in the adult trade segment, the only other category in which sales were up in the first 11 months of 2015 was religious presses, which had a 0.9% gain from reporting publishers.

Category Change Nov. YTD
Adult Hard 12.0% 0.1%
Adult Paper 31.4% 16.1%
Mass Market -5.7% -12.5%
Physical Audio -12.0% -2.2%
Audio Download 27.1% 40.3%
Adult E-book -14.9% -7.3%
Children’s/YA 7.9% -3.8%
Religious Presses 10.2% 0.9%
Professional -9.6% -4.7%
K–12 Materials 7.5% -4.4%
Higher Ed. -18.0% -7.4%
University Presses 11.9% -1.8%

(Comparisons of $ sales against same periods in 2014)