Total net book sales in April in the U.S. rose 4.4%, to $887.7 million, compared to April 2025, representing sales of 1,416 publishers and distributed clients as reported to the Association of American Publishers. For the first four months of the year, net book sales rose 1.7%, to $3.774 billion.
In April, trade sales rose 3.6%, to $768.9 million. The biggest categories with sales jumps in April included children's special bindings and children's/YA paperbacks as well as adult, university press, and religious paperbacks. University press and adult hardcovers also had gains. Lagging categories included e-books, adult hardcovers, and mass market.
In terms of format, in April trade hardcover sales fell 3.1%, to $265.8 million, paperbacks rose 10%, to $281.4 million, mass market dropped 77.2%, to $2.4 million, and special bindings jumped 44.4%, to $18.3 million. E-book sales slipped 1.2%, to $84.6 million, digital audio rose 11.9%, to $97.5 million, and physical audio dropped 12.3%, to $400,000.
Sales by category for April 2026:
