The focus was on the lack of returns in the AAP’s April StatShot report. With most all bookstores closed in the month, total sales fell only 3.5% at the 1,361 publishers that report figures to StatShot. While closed bookstores were unable to order many new books, they were also not returning unsold copies. As a result, though total gross sales fell 16% in April compared to April 2019, that decline was largely offset by a nearly 49% drop in returns. That formula was seen most clearly in the higher educational course material category, where a 30.8% monthly decline in gross sales was offset by a 57.9% drop in returns, yielding a 139.8% increase in net sales. The same, but less extreme, pattern was seen in the trade categories. In adult hardcover, for example, gross sales fell 19.6% in the month, but returns plunged 51.6%, leading to a modest 3.3% decline in April net sales.