The Association of American Publishers issued its press release on December's sales figures for books this morning, with a 1.8 percent decrease for the month of December (after November's 8 percent gainer and a 2.1 percent rise in October), which reduced the increase in sales over the course of 2007 to 7.4 percent.

Remember how ebook sales rose 36.4 percent in November, which was widely attributed to the release of Amazon.com's Kindle? The category grew by another 2.4 percent in December, 23.6 percent for the year. The big winner of the month appears to be adult mass market paperbacks, which shot up 46.8 percent that month; by contrast, adult hardcovers were down 19.5 percent. As for the holiday season's impact on the youth, according to the AAP, "The Children's/YA Hardcover category saw an increase of 16.7 percent for the month with sales of $52.6 million; sales year-to-date were also up by 46.4 percent. The Children's/YA Paperback category was up by 10.0 percent in December with sales totaling $39.6 million; sales were up by 6.5 percent for the year."

Of course, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows accounts for a large chunk of that 46.4 percent swell...