April brought growth in categories tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) with religion book publishing sales up 5.8% in April ($29.8 million). However, sales are down for religious titles by 1.9% for the year.

Sales in the adult hardcover category grew 16.7% in April with sales of $110.2 million. The category has grown 4.1% in 2005. Adult paperback sales also made gains in April of 5.4% (sales totaled $89.2 million). Sales for this category have grown 5.4% over last year's sales. The adult mass-market category lost 22.4 % in April. Sales totaled $35.6 million for this category, which is subsequently down 3% for the year.

The children's and young adult hardcover category posted a 35.2% gain in April ($36.4 million). The category has had a banner spring and maintains a 42% growth figure for the year. The children's and young adult paperback publishing sales, however, were down by 10.2% in April with sales totaling $33.7 million. This category is down 1.5% for the year.

Audiobook sales had a 25.2% growth in April sales ($12.5 million), and sales are up by a widened 12.3% margin for the year. Sales of e-books grew by 70.8% in April ($1.3 million). This rapidly expanding category is up 39.5% for the year.

The AAP is the principal trade association for the U.S. book publishing industry with more than 300 members, comprising most of the major commercial book publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and medium-sized houses, nonprofit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies.

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