June 24, 2025
AAP April 2025 StatShot Report: Overall Publishing Industry Down 4.0% for Month of April, and Down 0.2% Year-To-Date
Trade (Consumer Book) Revenues Down 2.7% for Month of April, and Down 1.3% Year-to-Date
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for April 2025 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Religious Presses, Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing.
Total revenues across all categories for April 2025 were down 4.0% as compared to April 2024, coming in at $931.7 million. Year-to-date revenues were down 0.2%, at $4.1 billion for the first four months of the year.
Trade (Consumer Books) Revenues
April
Trade (Consumer Books) revenues were down 2.7% in April at $734.1 million. In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of April, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were up 2.6%, coming in at $273.5 million; Paperbacks were down 3.8%, with $251.9 million in revenue; Mass Market was up 31.9% to $10.4 million; and Special Bindings were down 14.5%, with $12.4 million in revenue.
eBook revenues were up 0.3% for the month as compared to April 2024 for a total of $84.8 million, and the Digital Audio format was down 12.5% for April, coming in at $83.1 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 47.1%, coming in at $400 thousand.
Year-to-date
Year-to-date Trade revenues were down 1.3% at $2.9 billion for the first four months of the year. Hardback revenues were up 4.4%, coming in at $1.1 billion; Paperbacks were down 7.1%, with $991.2 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 17.8% to $31.1 million; and Special Bindings were down 6.3%, with $58.1 million in revenue.
eBook revenues were up 3.5% as compared to the first four months of 2024 for a total of $355.6 million. The Digital Audio format was up 1.2%, coming in at $328.1 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 38.9%, coming in at $1.6 million.
Religious Presses
April
Religious press revenues were down 10.2% in April, coming in at $61.5 million. Hardback revenues were down 7.2% to $37.6 million in revenue, while Paperback revenues were down 18.5% to $10.4 million. eBook revenues were down 6.6%, coming in at $4.0 million.
Year-to-date
On a year-to-date basis, religious press revenues were up 0.4%, at $283.7 million. Hardback revenues were up 1.8% at $173.2 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were down 4.0% to $52.3 million, and eBook revenues were down 11.6% at $17.2 million.
Higher Education
During April 2025, revenues from Higher Education Course Materials were $80.8 million, up 2.8% compared with April 2024. Year-to-date Higher Education Course Materials revenues were $828.1 million, up 7.6% compared to the first four months of 2024.
Professional Books
Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, were up 3.4% during the month, coming in at $38.2 million. Year-to-date Professional Books revenues were $143.2 million, down 3.7% as compared to the first four months of 2024.
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.
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) Like any business, it is 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.