BOOKSTORE SALES UP

Wednesday, 01 August 2012 04:42 Every now and then, this blog posts about what's going on in the book industry as a whole.

We do this just to give ourselves a bit of a reality check, especially if the news is good.

Bookstore sales apparently are up, despite all the dire predictions that people aren't buying books.

May bookstore sales rose 5.7%, to $1.09 billion, compared to May 2011, according to preliminary estimates from the Census Bureau. For the year to date, bookstore sales have been level at $5.937 billion.

In January, bookstore sales were even with the same period as in 2011 while in February and March bookstore sales dropped 4% and 3.8%, respectively, then rebounded in April by 3.8%.

Total retail sales in May rose 7%, to $423.7 billion, compared to May 2011. For the year to date, total retail sales have risen 7%, to $1,978.8 billion.

OK, so all those numbers make my eyes glaze over, too. But I am delighted to see numbers that prove that people are still buying books. We mystery fiction fans have known that for a long time, but it is good to see that we are right.

And what's even more interesting is how the Census Bureau defines bookstore sales.

Under Census Bureau definitions, bookstore sales are of new books; these sales do not include "electronic home shopping, mail-order, or direct sale" or used book sales.

Which means that book sales are probably even higher if the bureau included ebook sales.

If you need suggestions about what to read, just look through Mystery Scene magazine's pages of reviews.

Meanwhile, I'll see you at the bookstore.