November 01, 2001 Overall Book Sales Up Slightly for First Six Months of '01 Book sales for the first six months of 2001 grew a very modest one percent in dollars and units, according to market information provider Ipsos-NPD, Inc. Based on an ongoing survey of more than 12,000 "nationally representative households," the company said that a total of 548 million adult books were bought from January through June of this year, representing $5.2 billion in sales. Among the channels of distribution, book clubs showed the biggest gain for the first six months of the year, with a 2001 market share of 22.0 percent, up from 20.2 percent in 2000. Noting that Crown Books and a few "key independent bookstores," among them Biblelot, had closed this year, Ipsos-NPD said that the market share for large chain bookstores for the first six months of 2001 was 22.3 percent, down slightly from 22.7 percent for 2000. The market share for small chains/independents was 13.6 percent in 2001, also down slightly from 14.2 percent for the first six months of last year. For 2000 full-year's sales, the market share of small chains/independents was 15 percent, unchanged from 1999. Popular fiction was the category responsible for the small gain in adult book purchases, led by an increased demand for general fiction and mystery/detective stories. There was also an increase in sales in nonfiction religious titles this year compared to the first half of 2000. The percentage of adult trade books bought online increased slightly compared to last year. For the first six months of the year, Web-based retailers had a market share of 7.5 percent in 2001, up from 7.2 percent in 2000. In a prepared release Ipsos-NPD noted, "Although the growth rate for online retailers surpassed the industry overall, the rate of increase slowed compared to past performance." The Ipsos-NPD numbers were less than bullish for electronic books, which accounted for only 0.1 percent of all books sold the first six months of the year. Fewer than one-half million eBooks were purchased by consumers between January and June 2001, representing a dollar volume of $5.3 million.   Topics: Industry Statistics, News - Bookselling,