In the U.S. A Strong Finish for Trade, Even with eBook Decline, As Every Other Major Publishing Segment Rises In 2013

Publishers Lunch

Trade publishing finished 2013 with two strong months of sales, according to the publishers who report to the AAP, closing the gap to put full-year trade sales a little shy of the big 2012 results. Measured sales from the approximately 1,200 reporting publishers were $6.441 billion for 2013, down by $74 million (or 1 percent) from 2012 -- which was a banner year, thanks to the Hunger Games and Fifty Shades trilogies. (By comparison, total AAP trade sales in 2011 were $6.082 billion, when Borders went bankrupt and liquidated.)

November sales of $651 million were up strongly, by $62 million (or 10.5 percent) compared to a year ago, with December sales of $530 million up 2 percent (or $12 million) over 2012. Adult sales showed the largest gains in November, while children's and YA sales led the December increase.

The other headline for 2013 is that overall trade ebook sales declined -- slightly -- for the first time since the AAP has tracked such sales. Total publisher ebook sales for 2013 were $1.471 billion, down by $15 million, from 2012. All of the decline and then some came from children's and YA ebooks, since the late-in-the-year rise of Veronica Roth's Divergent books was not big enough to overcome the falloff from the success of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games in 2012. Children's ebooks comprised $170.5 million in 2013, compared to $232.5 million in 2012. Adult ebooks rose modestly, at $1.301 billion up 4 percent (or $48 million) from 2012.

eBooks comprised 21 percent of AAP trade sales in all, down from 23 percent in 2012). They accounted for nearly 27 percent of adult sales, and 11 percent of children's/YA sales. Even among adult books, however, ebooks remained the third-largest segment, behind both hardcovers ($1.525 billion) and trade paperbacks ($1.363 billion).

More broadly, 2013 was a solid year across the entire publishing industry, as the AAP recorded total 2013 sales of $15.052 billion, up $152 million (or 1 percent) from 2012. Gains were recorded in every category except trade publishing:

Religious	$572 million	Up $10.5 million
Professional	$733 million	Up $22 million
K-12	$2.847 billion	Up $122 million
Higher Ed	$4.299 billion	Up $60 million
University Presses	$119 million	Up $3.5 million