Reflecting another full month when much of the country was under stay-at-home orders or business was otherwise limited because of the Covid-19 pandemic, total net book sales in October in the U.S. rose 7.3%, to $1.215 billion, compared to October 2019, representing sales of 1,354 publishers and distributed clients as reported to the Association of American Publishers. It was the third rise in sales this year since February, following August's 0.3% gain and September's 14.6% jump. For the year to date, total net book sales were down 1%, to $12.4 billion.
Total trade sales rose 2.4%, to $960.6 million, in October and were up 6.9%, to $6.9 billion for the year to date. E-book sales jumped 20.4%, to $54 million, in October, and downloadable audio was up 14.3%, to $283.3 million.
Sales by category in October 2020 compared to October 2019:
