Religious books made impressive gains in August with sales up 42.9% totaling $40 million, according to the Association of American Publishers (AAP). The category maintains a 25.4% year-to-date growth figure.

While sales were up for religious books and other categories tracked by the AAP, slight losses were reported in the publishing of books for grade schools.

Sales of adult hardcover books grew dramatically by 13.4% in August, with sales of $92.6 million, up 17.1% for the year. Adult paperback sales lost 0.2% in August (with sales of $98.2 million), with the year-to-date figure up 2%. The adult mass-market category gained 6.8% in August, with sales of $66.3 million for this category, down 6.3% in 2004.

The children's and young adult hardcover category posted a loss of 12.8% in August ($55.8 million); the category has fallen below the 2003 year-to-date figure by 34.9%. The children's and young adult paperback publishing sales saw a gain in August of 33% with sales totaling $47.7 million. This category continues to gain and is now up 7.6% for the year.

Audiobook sales had a 10.8% growth spurt in August ($10.8 million); however, sales are still down 2.3% for 2004.

• Prev
• Next