Book sales were down 7.5 percent for the year as of February 2015 reaching $1.71 billion as compared to $1.85 billion for the same two-month period in 2014, according to new metrics shared by the Association of American Publishers (AAP).
AAP tracked sales for Trade -fiction/non-fiction, K-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses and included sales from more than 1,200 publishers.
Sales in Trade books for January & February were $1.01 billion, down by 4.3 percent. Childrens & Young Adult book sales were down 15.5 percent for the year. Paperback book sales were up 7.8 percent during the period. Downloaded audio books were up 33.0 percent and eBooks were down by 11.7 percent year-to-date.