“Over the last three years, adult fiction sales are down 10.5%. That to me is an eye-opening statistic, especially given the great fiction we’ve seen in recent years. The good news is that those declines have been offset by surging nonfiction sales, where revenue has jumped an astounding 24.2%.”
Catching up with PW's Andrew Albanese
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In July, the Association of American Publishers released its 2018 StatShot Annual Report, “which found, among other things, that the U.S. book publishing industry generated an estimated $26.23 billion in net revenue for 2017, representing 2.72 billion units.” For its forthcoming issue, Publishers Weekly has unpacked the numbers to uncover who’s up and who’s down.
“As Jim Milliot (PW editorial director) notes in Monday’s issue, the small dip in 2017 revenues (over 2016) marks the third consecutive year where sales have dropped. Overall, AAP states suggest that revenues are down roughly 6% between 2014 and 2017,” reports Andrew Albanese, PW senior writer.
“Over the last three years, adult fiction sales are down 10.5%. That to me is an eye-opening statistic, especially given the great fiction we’ve seen in recent years,” he tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “The good news is that those declines have been offset by surging nonfiction sales, where revenue has jumped an astounding 24.2%.”
Elsewhere in the industry, according to AAP stats, the professional publishing segment had the steepest decline between 2014 and 2017, falling 24.2%; the higher education market dropped 18.0%; and PreK–12 segment sales were off 24.2%.
Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.
