Final sale estimates released today by the Association of American Publishers put 2025 industry sales at $33.4 billion, a 2.5% increase over 2024. Unlike 2024, when unit sales fell, the number of books sold in 2025 inched up 0.4%, to 3.15 billion.

The final numbers, compiled by Industry Insights, Inc., are determined by combining survey responses from more than 1,600 participating publishers, who reported a total of $12.3 billion in revenue, while the remaining $21.2 billion was estimated through extrapolation, market modeling, and research.

Looking at trends in the trade category, which includes religion books, sale rose 2.7% overall to $21.7 billion. The increase was led by religious presses, whose sales rose 9.3%, to $2.2 billion. Adult fiction sales had the second biggest sales increase, with revenue up 3.9%, to $7.1 billion.

Adult nonfiction sales rose 1.6%, to $6 billion. The children’s/young adult categories had smaller increase with fiction up 0.9%, to $5.4 billion and nonfiction ahead 0.3%, to $1 billion.

Trade unit sales increased 0.5% over 2024, driven almost entirely by an 8.1% increase in sales of religion books. Adult fiction was the only other trade segment to post an increase in units with sales up 1.9%.

Outside of the trade categories, sales of higher education course materials increased 8.5%, to $4.7 billion, while sales in in PreK-12 instructional materials decreased 2.5%, to $5.2 billion.

Sales in the professional & scholarly segment (excluding journals) decreased 1.2%, to $1.3 billion. The industry’s smallest segment, university presses, had a 4.9% sales increase in the year to $368 million.

Trade sales by format and channel

Within trade, the hardcover and paperback formats together accounted for 73.1% of revenue, with hardcover sales up 3.9%, to $8 billion, and trade paperback sales increasing 2%, to $7.8 million. And as mass market paperbacks all but vanish from the market, sales dropped 29.4% last year to $153 million.

Combined digital audio and e-books accounted for 21.5% of all trade revenue in 2025, up only slightly from 21.4% a year ago. Digital audio sales increased 5.3%, to $2.5 billion, and e-books increased 3.2%, to $2.2 billion. Last year was the second consecutive year digital audio sales were higher than e-book sales.

In terms of channels, physical stores had the biggest increase in the year, with sales up 6%, to $5 billion, an increase likely due in part to the opening of more Barnes & Noble stores as well as more independent bookstores.

Even with the gain, online retail—led of course by Amazon—remained the largest channel with sales of $11.3 billion, a 2.9% increase over 2024.

Sales through intermediates—largely wholesalers—fell 2.4% after dropping by just over 11% in both 2023 and 2024. The three-year drop is likely due to slower sales to libraries and, especially last year, trouble at Baker & Taylor, which went out of business at the end of 2025.

Export sales appeared to weather any tariff issues last year with sales up 4.1%, to $997 million, while direct sales bounced back after two years of declines finishing 2025 with sales of $365 million though that was down from a $381 high posted in 2022.

According to the AAP, trade sales have increased 17% between 2021 and 2025, slightly faster than the entire industry, which had a 16.4% increase. Unit sales of trade books were up just over 10% in the five-year period.

"This year’s report reflects a healthy and agile publishing industry,” commented Syreeta Swann, chief operating officer of AAP in a statement. She pointed to the resilience of print even as digital formats continue to grow.