Book Sales Off to Good Start in 2008?

Following last week’s announcement of a 4.7 percent increase in bookstore sales for the month of January, the Association of American Publishers released its own statistics on book sales yesterday, claiming a 7.2 percent increase in sales over the same time frame.

Possibly interesting details: A 21.9 percent drop in children’s and YA hardcover book sales is matched by a 28.2 percent increase in children’s and YA paperbacks. Adult paperbacks jumped up 37.6 percent, while hardcovers posted a modest gain of 4.2 percent. And both audiobooks and e-books continue to rise, by 16.8 percent and 26.1 percent respectively.

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