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Saturday, December 24, 2011

eBook sales figures still falling

From Publishers Lunch



The AAP announced their tabulation of sales for October from reporting publishers. In the closely-watched ebook sales category--where the AAP's monthly number is the only standing statistic we have to go on, the now 20 reporting publishers recorded sales of $72.8 million, down from $80.3 million in August. (Rizzoli is now among those contributing data.) It's the lowest monthly ebook total recorded since April, and lower as an absolute comparison since the matching results that month came from just 14 publishers.

Seasonably sizable shipments of print books and flat month-to-month ebook sales trends left digital books in fourth place, trailing hardcover and trade paperback adult sales as well as hardcover children's books. eBooks comprised just 12.6 percent of all recorded trade sales. (As a reminder, the AAP counts religious sales as trade; Publishers Lunch does not in calculating percentages, in part because their "religious" category includes both print and ebook sales.)

There was a decline in book sales overall, unfortunately -- by is much as $62 million.

The monthly trade sales total for October of $577.6 million was down almost 10 percent from $639.5 million a year ago.

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