Over the first 6 months of 2021, over 125.3 million children’s print books were sold.
This presents an 11.2% increase over the same period in 2021.
Children’s book sales had a slower growth compared to the combined growth across all categories, which grew by 18.5%.
Through June 2021, juvenile book sales accounted for 32.4% of total book sales over this period.
Children’s books’ share in overall sales dropped by 6.1%, as it was standing at 34.5% through June 2020.
72.9% of all children’s books sold in 2021 came from the children’s fiction category, while nonfiction accounted for 27.1% of total sales.
Compared to 2020, fiction increased its share in total children’s book sales by 5.9%, jumping from 68.8%.
Children’s fiction accounted for 23.6% of total print book sales in 2021, making it the second-highest selling category overall.
The growth of sales in juvenile fiction in 2021 over 2020 was 17.8%, jumping from 77.5 to 91.3 million copies sold.
Nonfiction faced a 3.2% decline in 2021 over 2020, dropping from 35.13 to 34.01 million copies sold.
Children’s nonfiction was the only major category that faced a sales decline in 2021.
The share of juvenile nonfiction in total sales dropped from 10.8% in 2020 to 8.8% in 2021.
Children’s book sales by year
In 2020, over 262.2 million copies of children’s books were sold, rising by 14.3% compared to 2019.
34.9% of all book sales in 2020 are attributed to children’s books, a 5.6% increase compared to 2019.
2020 was especially good for juvenile nonfiction, which increased its sales by 14.3 million units over 2019. This is a 23.1% increase during this period.
Children’s fiction also saw a sales increase in 2020, jumping from 167.3 in 2019 to 185.7 million units sold. This is an 11% increase.
Children’s book sales were in a slight decline prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, dropping by 2% from 2017 to 2018, and falling an additional 3% in 2019.
Prior to 2018, juvenile books sales faced a gradual increase over at least 3 consecutive years: 0.2% in 2015, 3.3% in 2016, and 3.4% in 2017.
The largest share of children’s book sales in total sales was in 2014 when they accounted for 35.5% of all sold units.
The lowest share of juvenile book sales in total sales was in 2019, with 33.1%.
Children’s fiction books sales
During Q1 of 2021, 91.3 million copies of juvenile fiction books have been sold.
If the growth rate over 2020 remains the same, children’s fiction could finish 2021 with over 218.7 million units sold.
From 2014 to 2020, over 1.23 billion copies of juvenile fiction have been sold, accounting for 25.8% of total sales over this period.
The share of children’s fiction bool sales in overall sales slightly declined over the years, peaking at 27.8% in 2014, and dropping to 24.1% in 2019.
2020 pandemic positively affected sales of juvenile fiction, as sales grew by 11% over 2019.
Children’s nonfiction book sales
Before a slight drop in 2021, children’s nonfiction book sales grew by 23.1% during 2020, making it one of the fastest-growing categories during this period.
Over 417 million copies of juvenile nonfiction have been sold from 2014 to 2020, with additional 74 million projected sales in 2021.
The share of children’s nonfiction sales in total sales was at its highest in 2020, then juvenile nonfiction accounted for 10.2% of all sold units.
This huge jump in 2020 could be explained by the change in consumers’ behavior amid the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. A slight drop in 2021 sales confirms this assumption.
Children’s book sales revenue stats
The total revenue of children’s book publishing in 2021 stands at $2.53 billion.
This is a 2.1% increase compared to 2020, the smallest rise over the last 3 years.
For the 5th consecutive year, children’s book sales revenue was over $2 billion, and it got over this figure in 7 out of the last 11 years.
2021 was also the 6th consecutive year with positive growth in juvenile book sales revenue, jumping from $1.89 billion in 2015.
The largest growth in revenue of children’s books was in 2014 when the revenue raised by 18.6% compared to 2013.
