Let’s start with the good news. AAP (Association of American Publishers) has announced the January sales figures. Once again, e-books sales rose, although the rate wasn’t as fast as in previous months. Also posting increases were downloaded audio books, religious and professional books. The other segments of the industry posted losses. Here is the breakdown as reported by Shelf Awareness:
| CATEGORY | SALES | % CHANGE |
| E-books | $69.9 million | 115.8% |
| Downloaded audiobooks | $6.5 million | 8.8% |
| Religious books | $45.4 million | 6.8% |
| Professional | $51.8 million | 1.3% |
| Higher ed | $382 million | -1.4% |
| Children’s/YA hardcover | $31.2 million | -1.9% |
| Audiobooks | $7.3 million | -6.7% |
| Univ. press paperback | $6.2 million | -7.8% |
| Adult hardcover | $49.1 million | -11.3% |
| Univ. press hardcover | $3.9 million | – 14% |
| Children’s/YA paperback | $25.4 million | -17.7% |
| Adult paperback | $83.6 million | -19.7% |
| Adult mass market | $39 million | -30.9% |
News
Image of the Day: Yamaguchi’s Latest Olympic Performance
On Monday before an SRO crowd at Books & Greetings, Northvale, N.J., Olympic skating star Kristi Yamaguchi had a clean program promoting her new book, Dream Big, Little Pig! (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky). Here Yamaguchi appears with owner Kenny Sarfin.
AAP January Sales: E-Books Rise Again but Pace Slows
Total net sales of books in January fell 1.9%, to $805.7 million, as reported by 85 publishers to the Association of American Publishers. Continuing the pattern of the past year, digital categories had the biggest sales growth: e-book sales rose 115.8%, to $69.9 million, compared to January 2010. But the rate of growth for e-books has diminished from numbers so high they looked like typos. For example, a year ago, in January 2010, e-book sales of $31.9 million rose 261.2% over the same period in 2009, and, six months ago, e-book sales in July 2010 rose 150.2%, to $40.8 million, over July 2009. Still, e-book sales have grown so much that in January 2011, the category was larger than all other categories except for higher education and adult paperbacks. On the other hand, print sales still accounted for 91.3% of all January sales.
| CATEGORY | SALES | % CHANGE |
| E-books | $69.9 million | 115.8% |
| Downloaded audiobooks | $6.5 million | 8.8% |
| Religious books | $45.4 million | 6.8% |
| Professional | $51.8 million | 1.3% |
| Higher ed | $382 million | -1.4% |
| Children’s/YA hardcover | $31.2 million | -1.9% |
| Audiobooks | $7.3 million | -6.7% |
| Univ. press paperback | $6.2 million | -7.8% |
| Adult hardcover | $49.1 million | -11.3% |
| Univ. press hardcover | $3.9 million | – 14% |
| Children’s/YA paperback | $25.4 million | -17.7% |
| Adult paperback | $83.6 million | -19.7% |
| Adult mass market | $39 million | -30.9% |
You can see more on this from Publishers Weekly here.
On the not so positive front is the latest from Borders. On Wednesday, Borders’ DIP filing was approved by the bankruptcy court. PW has a breakdown of the hearing here. But what is really interesting, imo, is the separate filing by Borders on Wednesday. Quoting from the same PW article: Borders contributed to speculation that it may look to a sale to emerge from bankruptcy. The court approved a motion appointing Jeffries and Company as its investment banker, but note that the company will only be paid under certain circumstances. “Jefferies shall be entitled to a Liquidation Fee with respect to any sale or liquidation of assets (whether pursuant to a Chapter 11 plan, Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code or otherwise) if, and only if, Jefferies ran a sale process with respect to such assets and/or marketed such assets or investment concerning such assets and/or otherwise provided material services in connection with the sale or liquidation of such assets,” the order stated.
Borders has also listed 28 more stores for closure. These stores will close by the end of May. Here is a link for the stores closing — I couldn’t get it to work this morning. Hopefully, it will later today. If not, here is a link to the PW notice about the closures.
— Amanda
The Naked Truth 
Adult mass market down 31% from last year?
I hope to heck they’re switching to e-books or libraries. I hate to think of so many readers getting out of the habit of reading.
Pam I think they are. There’s no other explanation for the huge increase in e-book sales. Then there is also the increase in downloadable audio books.
–Amanda
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These numbers do not seem to add up.
I get a total of $821m whereas the AA Publishers quote $806m. Can you help me out ?