Total net book sales in 2020 rose 0.1%, to $14.75 billion, compared to 2019, representing sales of 1,354 publishers and distributed clients as reported to the Association of American Publishers. In December, total net book sales fell 8.5%, to $1.12 billion.
Total trade sales rose 9.7%, to $8.6 billion. Excluding mass market and physical audiobooks, trade categories had strong sales, particularly e-books and hardcovers. By contrast, some of the categories with major drops in sales during 2020 were K-12 and Higher Ed, both casualties of the pandemic.
Sales by category in 2020 compared to 2019: