US book sales fall by 44 million in '04

Following recent news that daily print newspaper circulation had dropped precipitously in six months' time, the Book Industry Study Group now reports that US sales of books dropped by 44 million from 2003 to 2004, from 2.339 billion to 2.295 billion, a decline of around 2 percent. Forecasters expect a good year in 2005 owing to the new Harry Potter title that's coming in July and a temporary surge in textbook sales. The outlook for the next four years, however, is for sales to remain flat at best--with the exception of Christian specialty titles, mainly fiction and self-help works.

Read the USA Today story on book sales.