Year to date, revenue is up 13.3% and unit sales 11.6%, with fiction further expanding its share of the market.

By Talita Facchini, Contributor

Halfway through 2026, the news remains encouraging for Brazil’s book market. According to the latest Book Retail Panel from NielsenIQ Book, released by the Brazilian National Book Publishers Association (SNEL), the country’s retail market posted strong growth during the first half of the year, with gains in both revenue and unit sales compared with the same period in 2025.

The figures reinforce the positive momentum seen throughout the year, even as the market continues to experience notable shifts in pricing, title diversity, and category performance.

In the sixth reporting period of 2026, unit sales rose by 10.4%, climbing from 4.5 million to just over 5 million copies sold. Revenue grew even faster, increasing 18.5% to reach R$ 264.4 million ($52 million).

The stronger financial performance was driven largely by a higher average selling price, which increased 7.3% this year. At the same time, the number of unique ISBNs sold declined slightly, by 1.5%, while the average retail discount rose by 0.8 percentage points to 23.93%.

“We have reached the halfway point of the year with the sector maintaining double-digit growth rates, even after excluding the exceptional sales generated by FIFA World Cup sticker albums,” said Dante Cid, president of SNEL. “These figures show that, beyond the publishing phenomena that emerge every year and provide an important boost to the industry, the market remains fundamentally strong—particularly in fiction—which continues to be a robust retail category. Even the decline in ISBNs, which could suggest some degree of market concentration, is not significant,” he added.

The positive trend extends to the year-to-date results. Revenue is up 13.3%, while unit sales have increased 11.6% compared with the same period last year. Even excluding World Cup sticker albums, the market still posted growth of 10.6% in value and 9.4% in volume.

The Year So Far

At the midpoint of 2026, Brazil’s book retail market has generated R$1.6 billion ($314 million), a 13.3% increase over 2025, and sold more than 30 million copies, an 11.6% increase. Excluding the World Cup sticker albums the market still maintained a strong performance, with growth of 10.6% in value and 9.4% in volume.

Among publishing categories, fiction significantly expanded its share of total revenue, gaining 5.5 percentage points, while Trade Nonfiction and Specialist Nonfiction lost ground.

“Fiction, both adult and children’s, has established itself as the main driver of market growth in 2026,” said Luiz Gaspar, Regional Director of NielsenIQ Book Brasil.

According to Gaspar, graphic novels were among the strongest-performing categories, with revenue rising 52%, driven by bestselling series such as Jujutsu Kaisen, and The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy at All. Horror fiction also continued its strong momentum, posting 68% revenue growth thanks to authors including Japanese writer Uketsu, American novelist Stephen King, and Brazil’s Raphael Montes.

The report also shows a slight decline in the influence of the Top 500 bestselling titles compared with 2025. Their share fell by 1.3 percentage points in revenue and 1.6 percentage points in unit sales, despite carrying average discounts that remained 6.1 percentage points above the market average.