For Immediate Release

June 14, 2005

Contact: Tina Jordan
Ph: 212-255-0200 x263
Email: tjordan@publishers.org

AAP Releases 2004 El-Hi Annual Net Sales Figures

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today announced the release of El-Hi (elementary and high school) annual sales and operating data figures for 2004. The El-Hi report includes the sale of instructional materials including textbooks, supplementary materials and on-line materials published for grade levels pre-K through 12. Overall sales of instructional materials increased slightly from 2003 to 2004. The report's analyses of the costs as a percentage of net sales figures provide invaluable insight into the numbers as reported by ten of the largest U.S. El-Hi publishers for 2004, 2003 and 2002. Total sales of instructional materials, including basal materials, supplemental materials and on-line materials, grew $12,763,000 from 2003 to 2004. In 2004, total sales were $3,907,694,000 up from $3,894,931,000 in 2003 (sales in 2002 totaled $3,824,814,000). Sales of total basal materials declined slightly from $3,214,777,000 in 2003 to $3,172, 706,000 in 2004. Basal materials totaled $3,139,006,000 in 2002. Sales of supplemental materials, however, grew in 2004 to $695, 743,000 from $641,600,000 in 2003. Sales in that category totaled $654,031,000 in 2002. Online materials, which include both basal and supplemental programs, realized similar gains in 2004; sales reached $39,245,000 last year, $38,555,000 in 2003 and $31,777,000 in 2002. The annual sales report shows net sales figures for 2004, 2003 and 2002 by subject area as well as geographic location in the U.S. and abroad, and breaks out basal vs. supplemental materials in most categories. Tables showing operating data for el-hi publishers include cost of goods sold as a percentage of net sales editorial, production, marketing, warehouse & fulfillment and general & administrative costs. The 2004 El-Hi sales report is an invaluable analysis of the United States' El-Hi publishing industry. The full report can be ordered on the AAP website at http://www.publishers.org/industry/2004_Order_Form.pdf. The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP's approximately three hundred members include most of the major commercial book publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and nonprofit publishers, university presses, and scholarly societies. The defense of intellectual freedom at home and freedom of expression worldwide, the protection of intellectual property rights in all media, and the promotion of reading and literacy are among the association's primary concerns.

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