Happy days aren't here yet

In a release issued today, the American Association of Publishers said book sales for October fell more than 20 percent from the year before. Adult hardcover sales were off 25 percent. Most categories were down except for children's/young adult hardcover, up .8 percent, and adult mass market, up 6.3 percent. Even audio books were off 9 percent.

There was one bright spot: ebooks were up 73 percent. But it's a tiny category -- $5.2 million compared with $246.2 million for adult hardcover.