By Andrew Richard Albanese, Editor-in-Chief
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has released its StatShot Annual report covering the calendar year 2025, finding that the U.S. publishing industry generated an estimated $33.4 billion for books and course materials across all formats—a 2.5% increase over the $32.5 billion in revenue reported in 2024.In a statement, AAP Chief Operating Officer Syreeta Swann said the numbers showed a “a healthy and agile publishing industry.”
AAP COO Syreeta Swann
As the report notes, the AAP’s annual revenue figures are compiled by an independent party, Industry Insights, and includes “survey responses” from more than 1,600 participating publishers who reported a total of $12.3 billion in revenue, plus an additional $21 billion determined through “extrapolation, market modeling, and research” to arrive at a final annual number.
Among the highlights from the 2025 StatShot Annual Report:
- Trade revenue increased by 2.7% to an estimated $21.7 billion in 2025.
- Within the trade segment religious presses posted the largest gain, up 9.3% over 2024 to $2.2 billion.
- Adult fiction grew 3.9% to $7.1 billion; adult nonfiction increased 1.3% to $6 billion.
- Children’s & YA fiction rose slightly to 0.9% over 2024 to $5.4 billion, while children’s and YA nonfiction was up 0.3% to $1.0 billion.
- Higher Education Course Materials increased by 8.5% to $4.7 billion.
- PreK-12 Instructional Materials decreased 2.5% to $5.2 billion.
- Professional & Scholarly (excluding Journals) decreased 1.2% to $1.3 billion.
- University Presses increased 4.9% to $368 million.
By format, print accounted for just over half of all publishing revenue (50.6%) in 2025, with hardcover sales up 3.9% to $8.2 billion, and paperback sales up 2.1% to $8.0 billion.
In the trade segment, print accounted for nearly three quarters of publisher’s revenue (73.1%). Year over year, hardcover trade sales increased 3.9% to $8 billion, while paperbacks increased 2.0% to $7.8 billion. Digital formats accounted for 21.5% of overall revenue in the trade segment 2025, with digital Audio revenue for trade up 5.3% and ebooks up 3.0% over 2024. Overall, digital formats accounted for 14.2% of all publisher revenue in 2025.
The report also includes five-year trends, finding that, overall, estimated revenue in the publishing industry grew 16.1% from 2021 to 2025, with estimated trade revenue up 17%, led by a 49.1% jump in the religion segment (a subsection of trade).
Over the same five-year period, Higher Ed/Course Materials revenue increased 6.7%; PreK-12 Education Instructional Materials increased 29.2%; Professional Books decreased 4.6%; and University Presses increased 17.8%.
Digital audiobooks, meanwhile, had the most significant increase, climbing 61.4% over the five-year span, while ebook revenue increased 11.0% over the same period.