Sales of religious books saw a significant decrease of 19% in February, as all book categories slipped 12% for the month, according to the Association of American Publishers.

The month's sales for religious books were $44.3 million, and the category's sales were down by 12.1% for the year. Sales of religious books previously decreased 9%, 9%, 25.6%, 11.8% and 10.8% in January, last November, October, September and August, respectively.

The Adult Hardcover category was down by 0.9% in February with sales of $77.8 million, and year-to-date sales were down by 17.7%. Adult Paperback sales decreased 38.8% for the month--posting $79.7 million in sales--and the category was down 29.5% for the year.

The Children's/Young Adult Hardcover category saw an increase of 62.1% for the month--with sales of $67.1 million--and year-to-date sales were up by 46.4%. The Paperback category for the same age was also up by 13.4% with sales totaling $41.6 million, and sales rose by 17.4% for the year.

Audiobook sales decreased 31.7% in February--with sales totaling $8.2 million--and year-to-date sales were down by 39.2%. However, e-book sales continued to rise in February, seeing a 131% increase for the month to $6.7 million--reflecting an increase of 177.2% for the year.

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