So Much for All That—AAP Snapshot Suggests a Worse May for Publishers Than NPD Data
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…it just depends on who you ask. Contradicting the earlier figures from NPD that suggested book sales rebounded in May, not only bouncing back from a dismal spring, but outpacing 2019 YTD, AAP’s recently released snapshot of May revenues from participating publishers is downright bleak. Overall sales were down -12.1% compared to May ‘19, and YTD numbers were down -4.5%. Revenues for K-12 were abysmal, down -32.5% against last May and -30.7% overall, and university presses were hammered as well, dropping -10.1% YTD. There were some bright spots, as higher education posted huge gains (up 19.4% over last May), and ebooks and audiobooks, unsurprisingly, sold like gangbusters (up 39.2% and 22.1% respectively over May ‘19). Religious books also saw a nice boost, up 7% over last May, which, yeah, makes sense.
To be fair, this is all a little apples to oranges. NPD tracks point-of-sale numbers from (some) retailers, and so it’s always at odds with actual publisher revenues, especially those that aren’t distributing to the trade. Meanwhile, AAP is getting reported revenues from its 1,360 member publishers, which covers most of the US market, but not all. So, the real situation may be somewhere in between. Regardless, that upward trend in retail is definitely still good news, even if the AAP numbers comport a little more closely with what I’ve been hearing directly from publishers themselves.
