BEIJING, Aug. 5 -- China's book market continued to expand in the first half of this year, up nearly 11 percent year on year, China Daily reported Monday.

Online book sales surged by more than 24 percent from the previous year, while sales at brick-and-mortar stores dropped by nearly 12 percent, the paper said, citing an industry report released by Beijing-based research company Openbook.

Children's books continued to top the best-sellers, accounting for 27 percent of overall sales, said the paper.

The country's book market grossed 89.4 billion yuan (about 12.9 billion U.S. dollars) last year.