US publishers' revenues up 6.9%

Revenues from US publishers have increased 6.9% to nearly $6 billion for the first six months of 2019, with growth in all categories apart from e-books, according to the Association of American Publishers (AAP). 

E-book revenues were at $493 million, a decline of 3.8% as compared to the same period in 2018.

In trade publishing, net revenue for paper formats, including hardback, paperback, mass market, and board books grew 2.5% as compared to the first six months of last year, reaching $2.5 billion. Paper formats accounted for 72.1% of all reported sales during the first six months of 2019.

Elsewhere, downloaded audio continued to see the highest growth and was up 33.8%, reaching $279 million while physical audio declined by 18.0%, coming in at $17 million. Downloaded audio accounted for 8.1% of all trade sales during the first six months of 2019.

Children and young adult books were at $919 million, an increase of 7.4% over the same period in 2018 while Adult books were at $2.2 billion, an increase of 1.4% over the same period last year.

Religious press revenues increased 11.4% to $328 million and professional publishing, in the fields of business, law, medicine, science and technology, were at $274 million, an increase of 1.1% over the same period last year.

During the first six months of 2019 total revenues for participating education and scholarly publishers, which include professional books, K-12 instructional materials, higher education, and university presses, saw an uptick, reaching $2,520.0 million and increasing 11.6% compared with the same period last year. The largest growth was attributable to K-12 sector.

Publisher net revenue, including sales to bookstores, wholesalers, direct to consumer, online retailers, etc., is tracked monthly by the AAP and includes revenue from about 1,360 publishers, with participation subject to change over time.