The Book Sales Roller Coaster

 

According to the Association of American Publishers, book sales in March declined 11% to $462.1 million (the bad news), although sales for the year to date rose 1.3% to $1.71 billion (the good news). It probably has to do with the increased gas and food costs, although there's no way of knowing at this point. The AAP also indicated which types of books were selling best:

Stronger categories:

• E-books rose 58.9% (with sales of $4.4 million).
• Children's/YA paperbacks were up 9.1% ($51.3 million).
• Adult paperbacks sales rose 6.2% ($138.5 million).
• El-Hi basal and supplemental K-12 gained 3.9% ($153.3 million).
• Children's/YA hardcovers increased 2.4% ($48.1 million).

Weaker categories:

• Audiobooks fell 44% ($11 million).
• Adult hardcovers were down 25.9% ($103.1 million).
• Religious books decreased 25.5% ($47.6 million).
• University press paperbacks dropped 14% ($3.7 million).
• Adult mass market declined 10.9% ($67.4 million).
• University press hardcovers fell 5.7% ($5.9 million).
• Professional and Scholarly books were down 4.6% ($46.8 million)

So what's a bookseller to do? During the BEA panel "Evolution of In-Store Events: From in-Store to Online," Book Passage's Karen West said they were having to revamp their web site presence (e.g. elements like author appearances, book clubs and other events). Fellow panelists and booksellers Dave Weich and Charles Stillwagon talked about some of the steps they're taking to harness the power of the Internet to sell books, including blogs (such as one that has authors contribute leading up to their store appearances), as well as outreach on general sites such as MySpace.com and YouTube.com and book/author-focused ones like RedRoom.com and GoodReads.com. As to whether that translates into more sales, it remains to be seen. Need more ideas? Powell's Bookstore even offers a film series. As Karen West added, "Bookstores are about community, and the current social climate is making more events possible," West added. After experiencing a "lack of intimacy in the 1980s and '90s, people are now looking to connect," she said. "Offer them a reason to come."

And maybe make it worth the extra $5 in gas it will take them to get there...