I’ve been tracking the sales results for higher education textbooks for using data from the Association of American Publishers. They recently released the most recent data on sales of textbooks:
Higher Education publishing sales increased 112.8 percent for the month ($ 74.5 million) and increased 28 percent for the year. …The K-12 El-Hi (elementary/high school) category posted total net sales of $164.2 million, down 1.3 percent from March 2009, and sales through April were $485.4 million, an 8 percent increase.
And here are the numbers for university press books:
Sales of University Press Hardcover books fell 1.5 percent in April to $4.5 million; sales decreased by 1.3 percent through April. University Press Paperback posted a gain of 17.9 percent for the month with sales totaling $2.3 million; sales were down 0.5 percent for the year. Sales of Professional books rose by 14.6 percent to $54.4 million and were up by 15.4 percent through April.
Higher education books continue to sell well, which is good news for all of us associated with the industry. More sales likely mean more profits, and that means more money to pay freelance writers to create textbook supplements.
