US market sales up 1.2% in first half of 2023

According to the Association of American Publishers’ (AAP) latest StatShot report, the US publishing industry’s revenues were up 1.2% in the first half of 2023, thanks largely to growth in the sales of higher education course materials, reports Publishers Weekly.

Compared to the same period in 2022, higher education sales rose 10.2%, while adult book sales were up 1.6% and university press sales grew 4.1%. Children’s and YA book sales were down 6.3%, professional books declined 3.2% and religious press sales were down 1.2%.

Trade sales were down about 1%, which is fairly consistent with an earlier report from Circana BookScan, which found unit sales of print books was down 2.7% in the first six months of 2023.

The AAP’s StatShot report relies on results from 1238 US publishers.

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