Book sales

UK book sales fell for the first time in five years in 2018, despite the success of bestsellers such as Michelle Obama's autobiography, Becoming.

The UK publishing industry was hit by a surprise fall of £168m (5.4%) in sales of physical books last year, ending a period of growth stretching back to at least 2014.  Read more

The UK print market has grown in value for a fourth year running, with 2018 showing a marginal volume increase too. Last year, 190.8 million books were sold for £1.63bn through Nielsen BookScan's TCM, a 2.14% increase in value and a 0.33% lift in volume against 2017. Average selling price also rose, with 2018's a.s.p of £8.53 a record high.

Amazon's dubious ethical employment standards are nothing new. You know the ecommerce giant is unrivalled when it comes to logistics and infrastructure. And their unscrupulous pricing strategy has long ceased to astonish - retailers simply cannot compete.  Read more

According to 2017 estimates released this summer by the Association of American PublishersThe national trade association of the American book publishing industry; AAP has more than 300 members, including most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies, sales of adult fiction fell 16% between 2013 and 2017, from $5.21 billion to $4.38 billion. The numbers, though not a major worry, raise questions about the books the industry is publishing and what consumers want to read.

British publishing houses broke all previous revenue records in 2017 to see their collective sales rise 5% to £5.7bn, driven by a growth in export sales which now account for 60% of publishers' revenues. However, while most areas of business performed robustly, domestic sales of textbooks to schools took a 12% hit, revealing that savage public sector cuts are starting to bite in the education.  Read more