In the UK, the Publishers Association’s data collection scheme, PA Sales Monitor (PASM) reports that book sales from January to March, compared with last year, grew “marginally by volume from 84.3m to 84.4m units, but the valuefell  by 3.3% from £287m to £278m.

Export  sales actually grew in value by 2.4% from £196m to £201m, while volume sales decreased by 4.5% from 54.2m to 51.8m units.

Total volume sales of participating companies decreased slightly by 1.7% from January to March 2010 over 2009, from 139m to 136m units, while value sales fell marginally by 1.0% from £483m to £479m.

In another bit of news, despite a general VAT increase from 17.5% to 20%, the government has also opted not to impose VAT on books, a move that would have likely stifled sales even further.