Book publishing is a business of high stakes gambles—and trade book publishers continue to make the right bets.Helped by blockbuster titles Fifty Shades of Grey and The Hunger Games, the industry posted net revenue of $7.1 billion in 2012, up 6.2% from the prior year, according to the Association of American Publishers' StatShot report, which the trade group released Thursday.E-books remain the fastest growing format, with sales up 33.2% for the year to $1.25 billion, which put the digital format in shooting distance of hardcover books, whose sales fell 6.7% to $1.38 billion. Trade paperbacks—the larger-style paperback favored by bookstores—were the best selling format at $1.49 billion, up 6.2%.Mass market paperbacks, generally sold in drugstores, remained the weakest category, slipping 12.4% to $404 million.The healthy numbers for 2012 were achieved despite a weak December, in which hardcover sales fell 19.4%, trade paperbacks dipped 12.7%, and the ebook sales juggernaut appeared to be finally slowing down, gaining just 19.5%.The Association of American Publishers' StatShot numbers are drawn from approximately 1,200 publishers. Continue reading at 'Crains New York'
[ Crains New York | 2013-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]