By Edward Nawotka
Perhaps fueled by people filling up the new e-readers they received over the holidays, e-book sales in January jumped a drastic 261.2% over the same period last year in the United States, according to the most recent statistics released by the AAP. As a category e-book sales equaled that of children’s/YA hardcover book sales, which fell 41.6%, demonstrating an interesting shift in sales patterns (kids don’t, apparently, get many books in January). Overall, sales fell 0.7%, to $814.9 million, compared to the same period last year.
Here’s the breakdown of sales, as compiled from data offered by some 85 publishers (thanks to Shelf-awareness.com for the chart):
| Category |
Sales |
Percent Change |
| E-books |
$31.9 million |
261.2% |
| K-12/el-hi |
$94.6 million | 35.7% |
| Higher education |
$384.3million | 7.9% |
| Audiobooks |
$10.6 million |
5% |
| Adult paperback |
$103.2 million | 0.8% |
| Adult hardcover | $55.6 million | −8.1% |
| Adult mass market | $56 million |
−0.5% |
| University press hardcover | $5.1 million | −0.5% |
| University press paperback |
$7.7 million | −9.4% |
| Religious books | $42.2 million | −14.6% |
| Children’s/YA paperback | $30.7 million |
−18.1% |
| Professional and scholarly | $51.5 million | −20.4% |
|
Children’s/YA hardcover
|
$31.7 million |
−41.6%
|