Total net book sales in March 2019 in the U.S. rose 23.7%, to $733.6 million, compared to March 2018, representing sales of 1,372 publishers and distributed clients as reported to the Association of American Publishers.
Tremendous jumps in higher ed course materials (up 202.3%) and K-12 instructional materials (up 30.8%) helped boost overall sales in March, although adult trade (up 9.6%) and children's & YA books (up 13.6%) had impressive gains, too. Religious presses (up 25.4%) also had substantial gains.
For the year to date, total net book sales have risen 6.7%, to $2.549 billion. At the same time, publisher net revenue for trade books rose 6%, to $1.61 billion.
Sales by category in March 2019 compared to March 2018:
