May 13, 2025 (press release) –
Trade (Consumer Book) Revenues Down 4.9% for Month of February, and Down 3.2% Year-to-Date
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for February 2025 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Religious Presses, Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing.
Total revenues across all categories for February 2025 were down 1.9% as compared to February 2024, coming in at $971.5 million. Year-to-date revenues were down 1.7%, at $2.2 billion for the first two months of the year.
Trade (Consumer Books) Revenues
February
Trade (Consumer Books) revenues were down 4.9% in February at $683.7 million. In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of February, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were down 4.9%, coming in at $231.4 million; Paperbacks were down 11.4%, with $226.0 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 29.3% to $6.5 million; and Special Bindings were down 8.0%, with $14.4 million in revenue.
eBook revenues were up 7.8% for the month as compared to February 2024 for a total of $102.7 million, and the Digital Audio format was up 6.8% for February, coming in at $83.3 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 36.3%, coming in at $200 thousand.
Year-to-date
Year-to-date Trade revenues were down 3.2% at $1.5 billion for the first two months of the year. Hardback revenues were down 1.3%, coming in at $524.7 million; Paperbacks were down 10.3%, with $490.0 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 21.7% to $17.6 million; and Special Bindings were up 5.9%, with $34.4 million in revenue.
eBook revenues were up 4.7% as compared to the first two months of 2024 for a total of $184.0 million. The Digital Audio format was up 6.4%, coming in at $168.4 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 16.1%, coming in at $900 thousand.
Religious Presses
February
Religious press revenues were down 0.9% in February, coming in at $78.7 million. Hardback revenues were up 1.1% to $49.6 million in revenue, while Paperback revenues were down 8.5% to $12.4 million. eBook revenues were down 11.6%, coming in at $5.0 million.
Year-to-date
On a year-to-date basis, religious press revenues were up 3.0%, at $159.5 million. Hardback revenues were up 5.0% at $98.4 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were down 3.7% to $30.2 million, eBook revenues were down 18.1% at $9.0 million.
Higher Education
During February 2025 revenues from Higher Education Course Materials were $212.0 million, up 16.7% compared with February 2024. Year-to-date Higher Education Course Materials revenues were $600.3 million, up 4.1% compared to the first two months of 2024.
Professional Books
Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, were down 4.9% during the month, coming in at $36.8 million. Year-to-date Professional Books revenues were $70.0 million, down 6.6% as compared to the first two 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.
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