Continuing an upward trend in e-book sales, religious presses reported a nearly 23% increase for the first 11 months of 2012 versus January-November 2011, with sales of more than $53 million, according to the latest figures available from the Association of American Publishers (AAP). The association has also seen double-digit growth in religious digital books in recent months.

Overall, religious book sales for the year-to-date versus the same time frame in 2011 saw a 3.7% drop to more than $542 million. AAP has seen a decrease in overall religious book sales during recent reports.

Religious paperback sales experienced a more than 15% decrease for the year-to-date versus January-November 2011, with sales of $162 million. In the same date range, religious hardcover sales were down 1%, with sales of more than $274 million.

For the month of November, though, religious presses saw hardcover sales rise more than 25% compared to November 2011. Religious paperback sales also rose 6.6% in November 2012, as did e-books, which were up 16%.

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

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