In adult books, net sales fell 13.6 percent in July’s United States market, remaining down 5.9 percent year-to-date.

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

After Months Up, Digital Audio Slips 18.5 Percent

The July 2025 StatShot report was released by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) to various members of the news media on October 14, shortly before the opening ceremony of the 77th Frankfurter Buchmesse with the radiant Philippine Madrigal Singers.

Five days later, on the 19th of October, 118,000 trade visitors and 120,000 private visitors—a total 238,000 attendees—would have been counted at Buchmesse, representing 131 countries.

So we’ve experienced a delay in getting to this news from AAP about its July StatShot figures, and we have that report now. Top lines:

Trade (consumer book) revenues were reported down 11.9 percent for the month of July, and down 4.1 percent year-to-date.

“Total revenues across all categories for July 2025 were down 4.2 percent as compared to July 2024, coming in at $1.3 billion” the guidance reads. “Year-to-date revenues were down 2.1 percent, at $7.6 billion for the first seven months of the year.”

In what is perhaps the most notable change, the 18.5-percent decline in digital audio is interesting, but the StatShot report authors point to the fact that year-to-date, “sales remained up 0.6 percent, with digital audio representing 13.1 percent of July’s net sales.”

As Publishing Perspectives readers know, the AAP’s numbers reflect reported revenue for tracked categories including the trade (consumer books); religious presses; higher education course materials; and professional publishing.

Trade Revenues

Year-Over-Year Numbers

That 11.9-percent decline in trade revenues came in at US$680.9 million.

In print formats in July:

Hardback revenues were down 9.6 percent in July over the same month last year, at $203.9 million;
Paperbacks were down 14.8 percent, with $245.7 million in revenue; Mass market was down 8.5 percent to $10.2 million; and special bindings were up 0.6 percent, with $19.7 million in revenue.

In digital formats in July:

• Ebook revenues were down 3.7 percent for the month as compared to July 2024 for a total of $$87.7 million
• The carefully watched digital audio format was down 18.5 percent for July of this year, at $89.4 million in revenue
• Physical audio revenues continued their decline, of course, down 52.2 percent, coming in at $300,000

Year-to-Date Numbers

Year-to-date trade revenues were down 4.1 percent at US$5.0 billion for the first seven months of the year.

In print formats:

• Hardback revenues were down 0.6 percent, at $1.7 billon
• Paperbacks were down 9.1 percent, with $1.7 billion in revenue
• Mass market was 26% to $53.5 million
• Special bindings were down 1.2 percent, at $109.5 million in revenue

In digital formats:

• Ebook revenues were up 1.5 percent, by comparison to the first seven months of 2024, compared to the first seven months of 2024
• The digital audio was up0.6 percent, at US$1.7 billion
• Physical audio revenues were down on the year-t0date scale, by 35.9 percent, coming in at $3.3 million

Religious Press Performance

Year-Over-Year Numbers

Religious press revenues were down 1.8% in July, coming in at $62.2 million.

• Hardback revenues were down 4.8% to $34.8 million in revenue
• Paperback revenues were down 0.3% to $13 million
• Ebook revenues were down 4.6 percent, coming in at $3.7 million

Year-to-Date Numbers

On a year-to date basis, religious press revenues were flat, with a decline of 0.1 percent, at $471.1 million.

• Hardback revenues were up 0.3 percent at $283.9 million in revenue
• Paperback revenues were down 6.7 percent to $85.5 million
• Ebook revenues were down 5.8 percent at $28.9 million

Professional Books

Professional books—including technical and scientific, business, medical, and law— technical and scientific, were down 9.0 percent during the month of July, coming in at $35.3 million.

Year-to-date, professional books’ revenues were $247.9 million, down 7.9 percent as compared to the first seven months of 2024

About the AAP StatShot Reports

The StatShot program provides this statement: “The Association of American Publishers’ StatShot reports the monthly and yearly net revenue of publishing houses from United States 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.

Monthly and yearly StatShot reports may not align completely across reporting periods, because: (a) the pool of StatShot participants may fluctuate from report to report; and (b) as in any business, it’s common accounting practice for publishing houses to update and restate their previously reported revenue data. If, for example, a business learns that its revenues were greater in a given year than its reports first indicated, it will restate the revenues in subsequent reports to AAP, permitting AAP in turn to report information that is more accurate than previously reported.”

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More from Publishing Perspectives on industry statistics is here. More on the Association of American Publishers is here, more of our coverage of AAP StatShot reports is here, and more on the US market is here.

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