Publishers’ book sales as of February decreased 7.5 percent for the year-to-date at $1.71 billion compared to $1.85 billion for the same two-month period in 2014, according to the latest Monthly StatShot report from the American Association of Publishers (AAP).

Religion publishers also were not spared the pain, as sales dropped 2.4 percent for the year-to-date and 10.4 percent for the month as compared to February 2014.

Specifically, among faith publishers, paperback sales suffered the most with a 17.2 percent drop for the month, but year-to-date, the drop was more moderate at 3.8 percent. Hardcover editions from these same presses were down 10.7 percent for February and down 1.4 percent for the year-to-date. Ebooks fared well for the month, growing nearly 4 percent but were down 10.8 percent during the two-month period. Religious presses netted $91.7 million in the January-February period.

In the broader market, audiobooks did well with physical audio (70.7 percent, February; 20.8 percent year-to-date) and downloaded audio (50.1 percent, February; 36.9 percent year-to-date).

The monthly statistics (#AAPStats) are tracked by the AAP and include sales from more than 1,200 publishers. Figures represent publishers’ net revenue for the U.S. and not retailer-consumer sales figures.

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