Sales of religious books were up for January, according to the latest monthly figures available from the Association of American Publishers (AAP). The group’s Monthly StatShot report included data from 1,149 publishers, including eChristian, Crossway, David C Cook, Gospel Light, Moody Publishers, Thomas Nelson and Tyndale House Publishers, among others.

E-book sales in general were up more than 49% to $99.5 million, while religious e-book sales were up nearly 151% in January to $6.7 million compared to the same month a year ago. This is the first time AAP has reported on religious e-book sales.

Christian stores began selling e-books last fall. Retailer Chuck Wallington, president of the Covenant Group and a leader in getting e-books into Christian stores, told Christian Retailing that e-book sales help stores “build an atmosphere of relevance” along with providing additional revenue.

Religious hardcover sales were up 2.9% in January over the same month the previous year to $39.6 million net, while religious paperback sales were down 10.3% for the same period, totalling $5.3 million net. Overall, book sales from religious presses saw a 9.9% rise to $52.4 million.

In other categories, adult book net sales rose 16.4% to $323 million, while children’s and young adult titles shot up 80.5% to $128.2 million. Books for adults saw hardcover sales rise 21.6% to nearly $70 million and paperback sales were up 6.1% to $105.1 million.

Physical audio sales were down 0.8% to $6.8 million, but downloaded audio rose 29.4% to $8.4 million.

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