Sales of adult books fell 10.3% in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the first period of 2015, and sales of children’s/YA dipped 2.1%, according to figures released by the AAP’s StatShot program. Sales of e-books dropped 19% in the adult category in the quarter and declined 40.5% in the children’s/YA segment. E-books accounted for 27.1% of adult book sales in the 2016 quarter, down from 29.9% in the same period in 2015. E-books’ share of children’s/YA sales fell from 12.5% in the 2015 first quarter to 7.5%. In the adult category, sales fell in all but two formats: sales of downloadable audio rose 36.4% in the quarter, and trade paperback sales increased 1.5%. In the children’s/YA category, paperback sales were up 19.7% in the quarter but fell for board books (26%) and hardcover (2.7%). The StatShot figures are based on sales from 1,219 publishers from across the industry.

Category Change March YTD
Adult Hard -18.2% -16.1%
Adult Paper -0.9% 1.5%
Mass Market -18.8% -25.5%
Physical Audio -26.8% -33.3%
Audio Download 34.4% 36.4%
Adult E-book -18.6% -19.0%
Children’s/YA 6.8% -2.1%
Religious Presses 10.8% 5.8%
Professional -32.8% -24.4%
K–12 Materials 2.7% 8.6%
Higher Ed. 17.3% 20.3%
University Presses 16.8% -4.6%

(Comparisons of $ sales against same periods in 2015)