AAP August 2020 StatShot Report: Publishing Industry Flat for Month; Down 4.6% Year to Date

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for August 2020 reflecting reported revenue for all tracked categories, including Trade (consumer publications), K-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses.

Total revenues across all categories for August 2020 were essentially flat at $1.9 billion, an increase of 0.3% as compared to August 2019. Year-to-date sales were $9.4 billion, a decline of 4.6% as compared to the same period last year.

Trade (Consumer Books) sales were notably up 6.9% year-over-year, coming in at $703.6 million. Year-to-date (January-August 2020) Trade sales were $5.0 billion, an increase of 5.2%, as compared to the first eight months of 2019.

In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of August, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were up 11.8%, coming in at $259.2 million; Paperbacks were down 1.1%, with $219.7 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 33.7% to $14.7 million; and Board Books were down 22.6%, with $14.5 million in revenue.

On a year-to-date basis, Hardback revenues were $1.7 billion, up 6.0%; Paperbacks were $1.6 billion, up 1.0%; Mass Market was $147.1 million, a decline of 6.9%; and Board Books were $101.3 million, up 6.7% as compared to the first eight months of 2019.
details and more at: https://publishers.org/news/aap-august-2020-statshot-report-publishing-industry-flat-for-month-down-4-6-year-to-date/

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