AAP February 2021 StatShot Report: Publishing Industry Up 24.7% For Second Month 2021, And 16.4% Year To Date

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for February 2021 reflecting reported revenue for all tracked categories, including Trade (Consumer Books), K-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses.

Total revenues across all categories for February 2021 were up 24.7% as compared to February 2020, coming in at $964.5 million. Year to date revenues were up 16.4%, at $2.2 billion for the first two months of the year.

Trade (Consumer Books) Revenues
Trade (Consumer Books) sales were up 19.1% in February, coming in at $646.6 million, and up 20.3% year to date, with $1.3 billion in revenue.

In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of February, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were up 26.9%, coming in at $232.8 million; Paperbacks were up 9.2%, with $186.3 million in revenue; Mass Market was up 35.7% to $21.7 million; and Board Books were up 3.2%, with $12.4 million in revenue.

eBook revenues were up 19.8% for the month as compared to February of 2020 for a total of $99.3 million. The Downloaded Audio format was up 27.8% for February, coming in at $71.7 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 20.9% coming in at $1.2 million.

Year to date, Hardback revenues were up 26.2%, coming in at $477.0 million; Paperbacks were up 14.1%, with $413.9 million in revenue; Mass Market was up 37.6% to $41.2 million; and Board Books were down 2.6%, with $29.6 million in revenue.

eBook revenues were up 20.4% as compared to the first two months of 2020 for a total of $191.0 million. The Downloaded Audio format was up 23.7%, coming in at $131.6 million in revenue. Physical Audio was up 1.1% coming in at $3.2 million.

Religious Presses
Religious press revenues were up 13.7% in February, coming in at $67.0 million.

On a year-to date basis, religious press revenues were up 6.4%, at 128.7 million.

Education
During February of 2021 Education revenues were $269.2 million, up 46.7% compared with February of 2020. Year to date education revenues were $731.8 million, up 11.4% as compared to the first two months of 2020.

Revenues from Higher Education Course Materials were up 60.0% for the month, as compared to February of 2020, coming in at $239.1 million. Year to date Higher Education was up 13.2%, at $668.8 million.

PreK-12 Instructional Materials revenues were down 11.6% for February 2021, at $30.1 million. Year to date PreK-12 revenues were down 5.2%, coming in at $63.1 million. More in-depth information on PreK-12 Books and Materials Monthly is included in AAP’s PreK-12 monthly report.

Professional Books
Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, were up 7.8% during the month, coming in at $39.8 million. Year to date Professional Books were $90.8 million, up 7.9% as compared to the first two months of 2020.
https://publishers.org/news/aap-february-2021-statshot-report-publishing-industry-up-24-7-for-second-month-of-2021-and-16-4-year-to-date/

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