By Erin L. Cox, Publisher | @erinlcox
Print, ebooks, and audio continue to see increases in sales year-over-year.
Today, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) released its StatShot report for October 2025 outlining the revenue US publishers have reported for October as well as looking at the overall revenue for the year.
AAP reports that general revenue is $1.5 billion, up 6.7% across all categories for October 2025, in comparison to October 2024. Year-to-date revenues were up 0.4% showing a total revenue of $12.4 billion for January to October.
For trade publishers, which represent the bulk of that revenue, they saw a 3.5% increase at $1.1 billion with continuing increase in hardback revenue (4.5% at $521.3 million), trade paperbacks (1.5% at $350.6 million), ebooks (1.9% at $88.3 million), and, of course, digital audio (7.3% at $92.6 million).
The increase in hardcover is not surprising given the continued success of books in the romantasy/dark fantasy genre which tend to have heavily-designed print editions that are enticing to fans as well as the release of new books by Thomas Pynchon, Philip Pullman, among others. Additionally, streaming audio continues to grow as Spotify expands its audiobook program, Audible offers new types of content, including Audible Originals, and new players get into the game to bring improved sound and production quality, as discussed in a panel in the Publishing Perspectives forum during Frankfurter Buchmesse.
The continued decline of mass market (down 22.7% to $7.9 million) and physical audio (down 21% to $700 thousand) signifies not only the changing market but also the reduction in places where consumers can buy these formats as bookstores and other stores stop carrying them.
In specific categories of publishing, the AAP report provides more detail. Here are some highlights:
- Adult Books: Fiction revenue increased 11.3% while Non-Fiction increased 0.6% year over year.
- Children’s and Young Adult Books: Overall net revenue decreased 4.7% in October 2025.
- Religious Presses: Net revenue increased 10.6% for October and YTD revenue was up 1.0%.
- Professional Books: Revenue was flat for October, but is down 9.1% overall for the year.
- University Presses: Revenue was up 8.6% in October but is still slightly down for the year (0.6%)
To see the full report, visit the AAP website.
About AAP’s StatShot
AAP StatShot reports the monthly and yearly net revenue of publishing houses from U.S. sales to bookstores, wholesalers, direct to consumer, online retailers, and other channels. StatShot draws revenue data from approximately 1,300 publishers, although participation may fluctuate slightly from report to report.
StatShot reports are designed to give ongoing revenue snapshots across publishing sectors using the best data currently available. The reports reflect participants’ most recent reported revenue for current and previous periods, enabling readers to compare revenue on both a month-to-month and year-to-year basis within a given StatShot report.