AAP has today released their August 2010 sales figures, produced by Management Practice. 

Sales for the Month were up 3.4 percent on the previous August.  Sales for the calendar year-to-date are up 6.9%. 

New York, NY, October 14, 2010— Publishers’ book sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for the month of August increased 3.4 percent on the prior year to $1.6 billion and were up by 6.9 percent for the year to date.

The children’s book category showed decreases over August of last year, with Hardcover Children’s/YA sales down 8.0 percent for the month with sales of $77.8 million, year-to-date sales are down by 14.6 percent. Children’s/YA Paperback sales decreased 15.1 percent in August with sales totaling $58.9 million; sales fell 7.6 percent for the year to date.

The Adult Hardcover category was down 24.4 percent in August with sales of $83.8 million, although sales for the year-to-date are up by 5.2 percent. Adult Paperback sales decreased 18.3 percent for the month ($124.9 million) but increased by 4.1 percent for the year. Adult Mass Market sales decreased 21.9 percent for August with sales totaling $54.9 million; sales were down by 14.3 percent year to date.
Downloaded Audio Books also saw an increase of 4.6 percent over last year, with sales of $6.3 million in August; and the category also rose 28.8 percent year-to-date. Physical Audio Book sales decreased 23.4 percent in August with sales totaling $9.9 million; sales for the year to date are down 6.0 percent.

Religious Books decreased 0.4 percent for the month with sales totaling $58.1 million, sales were down by 0.3 percent for the year to date.

Sales of University Press Hardcover books were up 10.2 percent in August to $6.1 million; sales increased by 5.4 percent year-to-date. University Press Paperback posted an increase of 15.7 percent for the month with sales totaling $10.1 million, sales were up 4.7 percent for the year. Sales of Professional books rose 14.5 percent to $102.7 million and were up by 10.7 percent for the year to date.

Higher Education publishing sales grew 11.8 percent for the month ($969.7 million) and increased 12.4 percent for the year. Finally, the K-12 elementary/high school category posted total net sales of $629.6 million, down 4.9% percent over the prior year, and year-to-date sales of $2.9 billion, an 8.0 percent increase over 2009.