December 2, 2025
AAP September 2025 StatShot Report: Overall Publishing Industry up 14.4% for Month of September, and Down 0.4% Year-To-Date
Trade (Consumer Book) Revenues Up 10.9% for Month of September, and Down 3.2% Year-to-Date
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for September 2025, reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Religious Presses, and Professional Publishing.
Total revenue across all categories for September 2025 was up 14.4% as compared to September 2024, coming in at $1.7 billion. Year-to-date revenues were down 0.4%, at $10.9 billion for the first nine months of the year.
Trade (Consumer Books) Revenues
September
Trade (Consumer Books) revenues were up 10.9% in September at $1.0 billion. In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of September, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were up 14.5%, coming in at $466 million; Paperbacks were up 15.1%, with $321.6 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 6.5% to $8.5 million; and Special Bindings were up 5.4%, with $28.8 million in revenue.
eBook revenues were down 7.9% at $85.4 million for the month, and revenues from the Digital Audio format were down 0.6% for September, coming in at $89.1 million in revenue. Physical Audio revenues were down 41.3%, coming in at $500 thousand.
Year-to-date
Year-to-date Trade revenues were down 3.2% at $6.8 billion for the first nine months of the year. Hardback revenues were flat on a year-over-year basis, coming in at $2.5 billion; Paperbacks were down 7%, with $2.3 billion in revenue; Mass Market was down 21.2% to $69.2 million; and Special Bindings were down 1.8%, with $156.9 million in revenue.
eBook revenues were down 0.5%, as compared to the first nine months of 2024, for a total of $788.5 million. The Digital Audio format was up 0.3%, coming in at $795.1 million in revenue. Physical Audio revenues were down 34.2%, coming in at $4.4 million.
Religious Presses
September
Religious press revenues were up 21.2% in September, coming in at $92.0 million. Hardback revenues were up 23% to $59.2 million in revenue, while Paperback revenues were up 2.5% to $14.7 million. eBook revenues were up 7.4%, coming in at $4.0 million.
Year-to-date
On a year-to-date basis, religious press revenues were down 0.4%, at $638.6 million. Hardback revenues were down 1.8% at $388.8 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were down 5.5% to $114.1 million, and eBook revenues were down 3.9% at $37.1 million.
Professional Books
Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, were down 12.1% during the month, coming in at $35.2 million. Year-to-date, Professional Books’ revenues were $314.8 million, down 10% as compared to the first nine 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.