US trade segment increased by 4.6% in 2018
In the US, estimates from the Association of American Publishers’ (AAP) StatShot program show that US publishers’ revenue for trade books was US$7.49 billion (A$10.57bn) in 2018, an increase of 4.6% compared to 2017 figures.
Growth in the trade sector came from adult books, children’s and young adult, and religious publishing, which all saw revenue growth. Adult books grew the most, with sales up 5.1% compared to 2017 figures, to US$5.13 billion (A$7.24bn). Children’s and YA increased by 3.3% to US$2.11 billion (A$2.97bn), and sales of religious books rose 4.5%. Within the trade sector, print sales were led by hardbacks, which rose by 6.9% compared to 2017.
Overall publisher revenue in 2018 was relatively flat, with a slight decrease of 0.4% to US$14.55 billion (A$20.53bn).
Downloaded audio continued to grow significantly in 2018, with 2018 marking the third consecutive year of double-digit growth. The audio category grew by 37.1% to US$469.3 million (A$662m), while the decline of ebook sales was relatively slight at 3.6%.
Education and scholarly publishers saw revenue decline in all categories in 2018, with the two largest educational publishing segments—higher education course materials and pre-K–12 instructional materials—experiencing revenue declines of 7.2% and 4.6% respectively. The largest revenue decline within education and scholarly publishing was in the university press segment, with sales down 9.5%.
In the children’s and young adult segment, revenue in 2018 bounced back from a slight decline in 2017, rising by 3.3% to US$68.4 million (A$96.5m).
The StatShot Annual Report is a yearly statistical survey of publishing’s estimated size and scope. It uses yearly sales data from 1375 publishers, and makes estimates for publishers who don’t participate based on company financial reports, government filings and other third-party sources.
The AAP will release final figures later this year, which will include sales estimates from publishers that don’t report to the AAP.
For more information, see the AAP website.
Category: International news
