Publishers Report Stable But Modest Growth for February

Bookstores may have posted an 11.3 percent gain in sales for February, but the members of the Association of American Publishers are only reporting a 4.8 percent increase for the month. When you look at January and February together, though, the gap shrinks considerably: The Census Bureau’s survey of bookstores shows a 6.7 percent rise compared to the first two months of 2007, the AAP says 6.2 percent.

You might recall my open-ended inquiry about the book(s) that could be responsible for that strong uptick at the bookstores—if the AAP numbers are anything to go by, it probably wasn’t an adult hardcover (sales down 26.4 percent), but it might have been a trade paperback (sales up 30.8 percent). Children’s and YA books are both hanging in there; hardcover was up 8.1 percent in February, and paperbacks are up 7.2 percent.

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