Faith-based publishers reported significant year-over-year e-book growth for November, though net paperback sales fell by 21% compared with the previous November, according to the Association of American Publishers (AAP).

Religious presses’ e-book sales skyrocketed—$5.1 million in November 2013 versus $3.6 million in November 2012, a 42.4% increase, helping to boost e-book sales for the first 11 months of 2013 to $60 million, a 9.7% increase over the $54.7 million sold in the same period of 2012.

Net paperback sales from religious presses fell from $7.5 million in November 2012 to $5.9 million the same month a year later. Total net paperback sales for the first 11 months of 2013 declined 5.2% compared to the same period in 2012—$112.9 million and $119 million, respectively.

Meanwhile, net hardcover sales from religious presses grew by 5.2% in November 2013, with sales of $32.4 million surpassing November 2012’s $30.8 million. This helped push hardcover sales growth for the first 11 months of 2013 into the positive column, with year-to-date hardcover sales at the end of November up 0.2% versus the same period last year—$282.9 million, from $282.5 million a year before.

Religious presses’ net sales of all titles, including e-books, grew from $49.5 million in November 2012 to $50.9 million in November 2013, a 2.8% increase. Total net sales year-to-date grew by 0.3% compared to the same period in 2012—$531.6 million versus $530.1 million, respectively.

With more than 1,200 publishers reporting, AAP's Monthly StatShot report includes data from Crossway, Gospel Light, Moody Publishers, David C Cook, InterVarsity Press and Tyndale House Publishers, among others represented by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

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