News of strong sales in nonfiction nationally—is good news for our authors
We’re celebrating.
Since our founding in , our authors and editors have focused mainly on what publishers call trade books
and adult nonfiction
—with a particular emphasis on books about religious and cultural diversity.
Adult Nonfiction Leads Growth in Sales
That’s why we are celebrating with our authors the latest round of news reports showing that adult nonfiction is the sweet spot
for growth in book sales nationwide.
Publishers Weekly put it this way:
Three-quarters of the way through , unit sales of print books were up 2.5 percent over the January through September period in at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The adult nonfiction segment, the largest of the major book categories, posted a solid gain, with units up 5.7 percent.
The marketing group NPD, in its own news report on this trend, wrote:
Print book sales are trending upward, due to growth in adult nonfiction titles, specifically religious books, cookbooks, and political books. Sales volume in the first half of rose 2 percent, year over year, to reach 317 million units, according to The NPD Group. Adult non-fiction print book sales increased 4 percent in the first half of , with 136 million units sold. In addition to politics and cooking, religion and self-help book sales also continued to grow, posting 6 percent and 12 percent increases respectively.
E-Books Remain a Small, But Vital Part of the Market
In a separate report, Publishers Weekly included an overview of e-Book sales through , which reflects an ongoing preference for ink-on-paper books by America’s millions of readers. In that overview, PW wrote:
Another notable trend that continued into was the decline in e-book sales. The format that at one point was predicted to dominate trade publishing saw sales fall 36.7% between and , and its market share dropped from 21.4% to 12.8% during that same period, according to Association of American Publishers figures.