Total net book sales in October in the U.S. rose 8.3%, to $1.37 billion, compared to October 2023, representing sales of 1,279 publishers and distributed clients as reported to the Association of American Publishers. For January through October, net book sales rose 7.1%, to $12.1 billion.
In October, trade net sales rose 7.3%, to $1.05 billion. Among trade categories with sales gains, digital audio rose 18.7%, to $86.5 million, hardcovers were up 8.8%, to $487.9 million, mass markets rose 11.7%, to $10.1 million, paperbacks were up 6.2%, to $321.4 million, and special bindings inched up 1.5%, to $27.2 million. E-book sales declined 2.5%, to $83.9 million, and physical audio dropped 54.2%, to $800,000.
While net sales of adult fiction books rose 17.5%, to $323.7 million, adult nonfiction fell 0.5%, to $340.1 million. In children's & YA, fiction book sales rose 2.3%, to $242.3 million, while nonfiction sales rose 9.3%, to $51.6 million.
Sales by category for October 2024:
