Religious book sales significantly down

Written by Eric Tiansay

Thursday, 13 August 2009 03:15 PM America/New_York

Sales of religious books saw a significant decrease of 22% in June continuing a yearlong trend, as overall book sales increased by 21.5% to $942.6 million, according to The Association of American Publishers (AAP).

The month's sales for religious books were $41.7 million, with the category's sales down by 7.2% for the year. Sales of religious books previously decreased 12%, 7.1%, 11.4%, 19% and 9% in May, April, March, February and January, respectively.

The bright spot in the AAP report was in E-book sales, which continued to rise, seeing a 136.2% increase to $14 million for June--reflecting an increase of 149.3% for the year. This comes as Audiobook sales decreased 17.3% in June--with sales totaling $12.9 million--with year-to-date sales down by 34.5%.

The Adult Hardcover category was up by 12.6% in June with sales of $132.1 million, but year-to-date sales were down by 17.8%. Adult Paperback sales increased 15.7% for the month--posting $132.6 million in sales, but the category was down 14.3% for the year.

The Children's/Young Adult Hardcover category decreased by 2.8% for the month--with sales of $47.8 million, but year-to-date sales were up by 30.7%. The Paperback category for the same age was up by 1.1% with sales totaling $ 46.3 million, and sales rose by 1.7% for the year.

Click here for more information.