Christian Retailing

E-books decline while paperback sales increase for religious publishers Print Email
Written by Eric Tiansay   
Wednesday, 17 July 2013 09:08 AM America/New_York

Halting a trend, faith-based publishers reported a 0.6% decrease during the first quarter of 2013 in religious e-book sales compared to the January-March period last year, according to the latest figures available from the Association of American Publishers (AAP).

In the same date range, religious hardcover sales were down more than 7%, with sales of nearly $71 million. In contrast, religious paperback sales experienced a nearly 4% increase during the year's first quarter versus January-March 2012, with sales of $44.5 million.

Overall, book sales from religious publishers for the January-March period compared to the same time frame last year saw a more than 2% drop to nearly $150 million.

With nearly 1,200 publishers reporting, AAP's Monthly StatShot report included data from Crossway, Gospel Light, Moody Publishers, David C Cook, Thomas Nelson and Tyndale House Publishers, among others represented by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.