AAP StatShot Report: Publishing Industry UP 40.2% for Third Month of 2021 and 22.3% Year-to-Date

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for March 2021 reflecting reported revenue for all tracked categories, including Trade (Consumer Books), K-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing.

Total revenues across all categories for March 2021 were up 40.2% as compared to March 2020, coming in at $896.1 million. Year to date revenues were up 22.3%, at $3.1 billion for the first three months of the year.

Trade (Consumer Books) sales were up 34.2% in March, coming in at $743.9 million, and up 24.9% year to date, with $2.1 billion in revenue.

In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of March, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were up 50.9%, coming in at $293.7 million; Paperbacks were up 27.7%, with $239.9 million in revenue; Mass Market was up 34.6% to $20.6 million; and Board Books were up 46.5%, with $15.3 million in revenue.

eBook revenues were up 21.0% for the month as compared to March of 2020 for a total of $88.0 million. The Downloaded Audio format was up 16.7% for March, coming in at $58.5 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 16.1% coming in at $1.6 million.

Year to date, Hardback revenues were up 34.0%, coming in at $765.3 million; Paperbacks were up 19.3%, with $651.2 million in revenue; Mass Market was up 36.6% to $61.8 million; and Board Books were up 9.8%, with $44.9 million in revenue.

eBook revenues were up 20.7% as compared to the first three months of 2020 for a total of $278.2 million. The Downloaded Audio format was up 21.0%, coming in at $189.4 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 5.3% coming in at $4.8 million.

Religious press revenues were up 29.9% in March, coming in at $58.4 million.

On a year-to date basis, religious press revenues were up 12.8%, at 187.1 million.

During March of 2021 Education revenues were $111.7 million, up 115.5% compared with March of 2020. Year to date education revenues were $865.9 million, up 18.7% as compared to the first three months of 2020.

Revenues from Higher Education Course Materials were up 179.2% for the month, as compared to March of 2020, coming in at $50.4 million. Year to date Higher Education was up 17.8%, at $741.5 million.

PreK-12 Instructional Materials revenues were up 81.5% for March 2021, at $61.4 million. Year to date PreK-12 revenues were up 24.0%, coming in at $124.4 million. More in-depth information on PreK-12 Books and Materials Monthly is included in AAP’s PreK-12 monthly report.

Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, were up 33.2% during the month, coming in at $33.1 million. Year to date Professional Books were $95.9 million, up 12.7% as compared to the first three months of 2020.
https://publishers.org/news/aap-march-2021-statshot-report-publishing-industry-up-40-2-for-third-month-of-2021-and-22-3-year-to-date/

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