Religious book category bounces back

Written by Eric Tiansay

Thursday, 17 March 2011 03:30 PM America/New_York

Bouncing back from a double-digit decline in December, sales of religious books rose in January, as overall book sales hit $805.7 million—a slight drop from $821.5 million during the same period last year, according to the Association of American Publishers (AAP).

Compared to the same period last year, January's sales for religious books increased 5.6% to $52.6 million. For December, sales for religious books decreased 11.8% to $49.9 million after the category saw a 5.4% increase to $51.1 million in November.

As has been the case, the brightest spot in the AAP report was e-book sales, which continued to rise in January—reflecting an increase of 115.8% to $69.9 million.

The Adult Hardcover category fell 11.3% in January with sales of $49.1 million. Adult Paperback sales decreased 19.7% for the month—posting $83.6 million in sales.

The Children's/Young Adult Hardcover category decreased by 1.9% for the month with sales of $31.2 million. The Paperback category for the same age decreased 17.7% in January with sales totaling $25.4 million. Physical audiobook sales declined 6.7% for the month—with sales totaling $7.3 million.

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