Book Sales Total $25 Billion in 2001
US book sales totaled $25,356,500,000 billion in 2001, a 0.1 percent increase over 2000, according to figures just released by the Association of American Publishers. (AAP)
Overall, trade sales dropped 2.6 percent with sales totaling $6.37 billion. Adult trade hardbound sales dropped 2.2 percent ($2.63 billion) while paperbound sales rose a slight 1.4 percent ($1.93 billion). Juvenile hardbound experienced the largest drop in the trade category, falling 22.7 percent in 2001, ($928.6 million), however, juvenile paperbound sales exhibited the exact opposite trend: sales rose 17.9 percent ($887.6 million).
Elhi sales were up 7.8 percent for the year ($4.18 billion), followed closely by higher education sales which rose 7.2 percent ($3.47 billion). Standardized test sales continued their steady rise, up 6.8 percent with sales of $250.1 million in 2001.
Professional and scholarly books experienced a dramatic drop in sales from last year, with sales falling 7.6 percent in 2001 ($4.74 billion). University press sales showed a small increase over last year, up 1.5 percent with sales of $408.2 million. Sales of mail order publications fell 18 percent ($353.9 million), a significant drop from 2000. On the plus side, sales of religious publications were up 4.7 percent ($1.31 billion), some of which may be attributable to the increased interest in religious works following 9-11.
Book clubs (up 3.3 percent, with sales of $1.33 billion) and subscription reference (up 1.3 percent, with sales of $819.4 million) showed moderate increases for 2001. Mass market paperback sales dropped a slight .8 percent with, sales totaling $1.55 billion.
The sales figures in this preliminary release are prepared by the Statistical Service Center based on year-to-date data from the AAP December Monthly Sales Report, along with other information gathered during the year. If any changes in industry estimates are found to be necessary as a result of annual sales data submitted for the Industry Statistics Report, they will be included in the final estimates in the report when it is published later this year.
