What the AAP October Data Explains About Publishing Right Now
How these numbers are shaping the decisions authors are living with
Every time new AAP numbers are released, the industry tends to swing between two familiar reactions. Either publishing is “back,” or everything is falling apart. Neither response is especially helpful, and both miss what the data is actually doing behind the scenes.
What matters far more is what publishers are being told by these numbers and how that interpretation shapes the decisions that directly affect authors. October’s sales figures, reported by Katy Hershberger for the Association of American Publishers, look strong at a glance, but the story they tell inside publishing houses is more cautious and more specific than the headlines suggest.
