This statistic presents data on the growth of unit sales of selected book genres in the United States from from ********* to June 2016.. According to the source, unit sales of military books increased by *** percent in the presented period.

Adult fiction book sales increased by *** percent between H1 2024 and H1 2025, with 2025 unit sales hitting ***** million between January and June that year. Adult nonfiction sales saw the biggest decline year over year with a drop of *** percent.

In the first half of 2018, general adult fiction books were the most successful in terms of sales with over **** million units sold in the United States during that time, but certain genres were far more popular than others. Unit sales of classics reached almost *** million, outperforming books in the fantasy category, and almost *** million graphic novels were sold. Among the most popular genres were romance and suspense/thrillers, with unit sales surpassing **** million and *** million respectively.

When it comes to nonfiction, business and economics books sold well in the first six months of 2018, as well as biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. However, **** million religious books and bibles were sold, superseding general nonfiction sales and making religion the best-selling adult nonfiction category in the U.S. during that time period.

The changing book market

Whilst it is true that demand for and spending on traditional media is waning as digital sources take over, books are still a popular source of entertainment, education, and recreation. But, like the newspaper and magazine market, the book industry found itself needing to adapt.

A key example of how the book market has changed is the advent of audiobooks, which allow users to enjoy books on the go in the same way they would listen to a podcast or stream their favorite music. Audiobooks in the fiction category are far more popular than nonfiction audiobooks, suggesting that buyers tend to use audiobooks more for recreation than education and listen to them on the go. Equally, the share of adults in the U.S. who listen to audiobooks in their car rather than at home grew between 2018 and 2019, demonstrating a growing trend towards on the go book consumption.

E-books are another popular, modern way to enjoy reading, though what they offer the consumer is not dissimilar to a print book when it comes to the act of reading itself. E-readers allow users to access any number of books at a given time, and as such e-books have less to do with flexibility in terms of consumption location or habit, but more to do with ease of access (and for avid readers, likely how many book shelves they need).

This statistic displays a breakdown of book publisher’s sales volume in France from 2010 to 2018, by genre. It shows that the children's literature segment continuously accounted for approximately ********* of books sold during this time period. In 2018, youth literature amounted to 14 percent of publishers’ revenue.

A surprisingly stable market

It would be incorrect to consider that the emergence of new media such as video games or social networks would have damaged the book industry. As a matter of fact, the revenues recorded by publishing houses have remained relatively stable over the past few years. The same is true for Hachette, one of the most prominent French publishing houses, which recorded profits amounting to *** million euros in 2018.

The advent of digital reading In 2019, more than ******* of French readers claimed to have read twenty books or more over the past 12 months, **** percent of them had done so via an e-book reader. Although still an alternative, digital books have become highly popular among French readers, who quickly adopted the flexibility and adaptability they offered. The value of digital book sales has quadrupled between 2010 and 2017 alone.

In Hungary, romance was the leading e-book genre in 2022, accounting for ** percent of the books sold. World literature followed in the ranking, with a ** percent share.

In 2017, textbooks generated an estimated revenue of ****** million U.S. dollars, making books in this category the best-selling type of print book in terms of online sales. Meanwhile, the second most lucrative category were printed children’s books, and online sales of print books centered around business amounted to almost *** million U.S. dollars.

The U.S. book market: an overview

Although many traditional industries are struggling to keep up with consumers’ growing demand for digital formats, retail sales of U.S. bookstores tend to reach between *** and *** million dollars per month. In the months of December, January, and August, such sales frequently either hit or surpass the *** billion dollar mark, a trend which has been evident for the last five years.

However, whilst bookstore sales remain comparatively healthy, other elements of the U.S. book industry are suffering. Higher education book publishing revenue has dropped by more than one billion U.S. dollars since 2013, and student spending on course material also noticeably decreased during the same time period. Major chain Barnes & Noble hasn’t had it easy, either – the company’s retail sales have dropped consistently year on year since 2012 and show no signs of improving. Barnes & Noble’s e-reader brand NOOK also proved to be somewhat of a disappointment, with net sales taking a nosedive from over *** million U.S. dollars in 2012 to less than *** million in 2018.

In 2023, the revenue from children's and youth book sales in printed format in Sweden amounted to ***** million Swedish kronor, making printed books in this category one of the most lucrative revenue sources for the book market. Crime and suspense literature however generated a total sales revenue of over ****** million Swedish kronor in both printed and streamed format, making it overall the most lucrative revenue source on the Swedish book market.

In 2023, the revenue of specialized literature accounted for the highest share of publisher's total sales to physical bookstores in Denmark, at just over ** percent. The second most profitable genre was fiction, with a share of roughly ** percent.

The statistic presents information on the increase of print book unit sales within the romance sub-genre category in Canada between 2013 and 2017. The data reveals that the the highest growth of print book unit sales between 2013 and 2017 occurred within the 'Clean & Wholesome' sub-genre, followed by romance books in the LGBT category which grew ****** percent in four years.

In 2023, around *** million children and youth books were sold in Sweden, as well as *** million books in the fiction category. Combined, the latter two categories, along with crime and suspense, accounted for the majority of all books sold in Sweden in 2022.

In 2018, general education books generated **** billion Mexican pesos in sales revenue. In total, book sales revenue amounted to ***** billion pesos in Mexico that year.

This statistic shows the distribution of general book sales in the Netherlands in 2017, by genre. In 2017, ** percent of general books sold in the Netherlands were non-fiction leisure books.

During the coronavirus pandemic, fiction was the book genre recording the highest growth in sales revenue in Sweden, closely followed by crime. These book genres increased their revenues by over ** percent in the first eight months of 2020, compared to the same period of the previous year. By contrast, sales of children and youth books, as well as popular non-fiction decreased within the same period.

In the first six months of 2018, unit sales of juvenile and young adult fiction books reached 80. 9 million. The science fiction/fantasy/magic genre vastly outperformed all others aside from books within the general juvenile fiction category, with over ** million unit sales.

Fiction books accounted for ** percent of total book sales in the Netherlands in 2021. By comparison, children's books accounted for the smallest share of book sales, at ** percent.

Throughout 2022, approximately *** million book copies were sold across Mexico. Out of the total, ** million were pieces related to basic education. Textbooks and children's literature (counted as a single genre) and books on learning the English language followed, selling ** million and ** million copies that year. Altogether, schools and universities accounted for around one-fifth of book sales revenue in Mexico in 2022.

In 2022, contemporary fiction accounted for almost ********* of e-book sales in Colombia. The self-help and romantic genres followed, with shares of about *** and *** percent, respectively. Colombia's e-book sales revenue decreased by nearly ** percent in 2022.

In 2023, the most profitable Norwegian fiction book category for adults was the novel, with sales revenue of over 93 million kroner. Crime and thriller books came second, reaching a value of more than ** million kroner.

The graph shows leading book genres in the United States as of July 2015, be reader's genre. During a survey, ***** percent of male and ** percent of female respondents stated they had read a romance in the year leading up to the survey.

In 2021, the non-fiction segment accounted for about ** percent of book sales revenue in Spain. Non-academic textbooks and fiction followed with shares of **** and **** percent, respectively. Novels sale revenue in Spain surpassed half a billion euros in 2021.