Religious books saw a 9% drop in sales in 2009 compared to the previous 12 months, according to the Association of American Publishers (AAP).

Despite the slump to $659 million in total revenues, religious books "secured steady growth" with a compound growth of 2.4% over the same time period-noted the report released earlier this week, which provides annual total book sales. Religious books had seen a 7.6% drop in sales in 2008.

The AAP estimates for 2009 were drawn from data from the Bureau of the Census as well as sales information from 86 publishers "inclusive of all major book publishing media market holders," the association said.

The religion sales drop was topped by audiobooks, which fell 12.9% to $192 million, while sales fell 5.2% in adult paperback and 5% in the children and young adult hardcover category. Mass-market paperbacks decreased 4%.

The biggest growth occurred in e-book sales, which shot up 176.6% to $313 million, while adult hardcover sales grew 6.9%.

Overall, AAP estimates that publishers had net sales of $23.9 billion in 2009, down from $24.3 billion in 2008--representing a 1.8% decrease.

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