AAP Shows E-Book Sales Up 115.8% Year-Over-Year

The latest data from the Association of American Publishers – the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry – shows that net sales of e-books approached $70 million in January 2011, a stellar 115.8% increase above the $32 million in sales logged the previous January.

Across the board, sales of e-books and downloadable audio books have been strong, despite the lingering difficulties faced by many retail book giants and the publishing industry as a whole.

Other key highlights of the report include:

  • Total books sales on all platforms, in all categories, hit $805.7 Million for January 2011. This was a slight drop from January 2010’s $821.5M sales (-1.9%).
  • Adult Hardcover category fell from $55.4M to $49.1M (-11.3%), Adult Paperback dropped from $104.2M to $83.6 (-19.7%) and Adult Mass Market declined from $56.4M to $39.0 (-30.9%)
  • In the Children’s/Young Adult category, Hardcover sales were $31.2M in January 2011 vs $31.8M in January 2010 (-1.9%) while Paperbacks were $25.4M, down 17.7% from $30.9M in January 2010.

The Association of American Publishers says all figures cited represent domestic net sales for US book publishers.

To read the full report, click here.