Reflecting another full month when business was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, total net book sales in July in the U.S. fell 9.4%, to $1.75 billion, compared to July 2019, representing sales of 1,361 publishers and distributed clients as reported to the Association of American Publishers. For the year to date, total net book sales were down 5.8%, to $7.5 billion.
But following a strong June (up 24.4%), in July trade sales rose again, by 17.9%, to $689.1 million, and are up 5%, to $4.3 billion, during the first seven months of the year. In trade, the best-performing categories were e-books (children's/YA, university press and adult) and hardcovers (adult and children's/YA). Downloaded audio also continued to grow in sales.
By contrast, non-trade areas were down by similar percentages in July. Education revenue fell 18.7%, to $2.84 billion, and professional books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, fell 20.3%, to $80.2 million.
Sales by category in July 2020 compared to July 2019:
