The Association of American Publishers has put out a press release with some domestic net sales numbers for January 2008. The first figure (percent) is relative to January 2007 sales; the second figure (US $) is total sales for the month.
The Adult Hardcover category was up by 4.2 percent in January with sales of $94.4 million.
Adult Paperback sales rose 37.6 percent for the month ($135.2 million).
The Adult Mass Market category rose by 17.3 percent for January with sales totaling $65.3 million.
E-books sales rose by 26.1 percent for the month ($3.1 million).
interesting jump in pback and ebook. What’s the diff between pback and mass market btw? is pback really trade paperback?
I think “Adult paperback” might include both trade and mass market, with “Adult Mass Market” being a subset of it. But I honestly don’t know.
btw – wonder how much of this is due to the crappy viewing season on TV this year
I wish people were turning to books instead of TV! But I have a feeling movies, DVDs, and downloads, and video games took up the slack.
Some of the uptick might be due to Christmas giftcards?
yeah, after I commented I realized the TV season only tanked at the very end of that 1yr cycle. (Jan 07 – Jan 08).
37% is a sizable jump tho. Makes you wonder for sure…