The Association of American Publishers has released its three-year BookStats report, a statistical study of bookselling trends from 2008 until 2010–providing a snapshot of the industry’s growth during this recession. Publishing’s net sales revenue has grown 5.6 percent during that period, counting $27.94 billion in revenue.
At the same time, the dynamics of formats shifted dramatically. Mass market unit sales have dropped nearly 17 percent since 2008, leaving the format a nine percent share of the trade book market–a two percent decline since 2008. Hardcover’s share of the trade book market dipped from 39.6 percent in 2008 to 37.7 percent in 2010; trade softcovers’ share of the trade book market went from 39.5 percent in 2008 to 37.8 percent in 2010. Both formats marked slight increases in net revenue over that same period.
Sourcebooks CEO and BookStats chair Dominique Raccah had this comment:“The BookStats study indicates that the publishing industry is healthy and growing during a time of unprecedented change … Publishers in every sector of our business have made significant investments in content and technology to better serve their audiences’ needs and those efforts seem to correlate with the results we’re seeing.”