Data showing how many books were sold in 2024 revealed that the printed book market remains healthy: a total of ***** million units were sold that year among outlets which reported to the source. Whilst this marked a small jump from the previous year, the figure peaked in 2021 and has not surpassed *** million since. Trade paperbacks remained the dominant format. Book sales statistics Looking at book sales by year, 2005 to 2010 were the most lucrative for the printed book market, with well over *** million units sold annually during that five-year period. After dropping below *** million in 2012, gradual and consistent increases can be seen each year, with the exception of between the years 2018 and 2019. For bookstores though, how many books are sold each year depends on the success of key months across a twelve-month period. Bookstore sales in the United States are at their highest in December, January, and August, but figures for December are consistently higher than other months. Books are popular holiday gifts, with around ** to ** percent of consumers responding to annual surveys in each year from 2012 to 2020 saying that they planned to purchase books as presents during the festive season.

After reaching its highest number of the past decade with a total of more than *** million books sold in 2021 in France, that value dropped to reach about *** million euros in 2023. That corresponds to a decrease of about two percent in comparison to the previous year.

Online booksellers sell books online, including e-books and audiobooks. The industry is dominated by Amazon.com Inc. (Amazon), which popularized the sale of books online and was essential to the uptake of e-books. Amazon has grown to account for more than four-fifths of all revenue from books sold online; so many industry trends directly result from Amazon. The industry has continued to grow rapidly as e-commerce has grown in popularity. Growing e-book popularity is also tied to the proliferation of e-readers such as Amazon's Kindle and tablets like Apple's iPad. Revenue for online booksellers is expected to expand at a CAGR of 4.6% to $10.0 billion through the end of 2024. The industry has likewise benefited from a strong economy. While the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a unique disruptive force, its effect on the industry was ultimately positive. Online commerce boomed as brick-and-mortar locations were shuttered and required to operate with restrictions throughout the pandemic. Despite Amazon's dominance, new upstarts have attempted to challenge its business model given the low barriers to entry. Shortly before the pandemic, Bookshop, an online book marketplace, launched to challenge Amazon's monopoly in the market by working with local booksellers. Still, entrants endure stiff challenges as they attempt to enter an industry with several well-established sellers. Without regulatory changes, Amazon will continue to reap most benefits from expanding online book sales through the end of 2029. The industry is expected to strengthen because of rising e-commerce sales, rising e-book and audiobook consumption and a strong economy. Profit will remain limited as Amazon is known to sell products, especially books, at retail prices below retail prices to expand its control of the overall market. Revenue for online booksellers is expected to swell at a CAGR of 2.9% to $11.5 billion through the end of 2029.

Net value of book sales by customer category, includes all members under Net value of book sales by customer category, for Book publishers, for Canada and regions, for one year of data.

Because of the sheer number of products available, the German book market is one of the largest business trading today. In order to display a highly individual profile to customers and, at the same time, keep the effort involved in selecting and ordering as low as possible, the key to success for the bookshop therefore lies in the effective purchasing from a choice of roughly 96,000 new titles each year. The challenge for the bookseller is to buy the right amount of the right books at the right time.

It is with this in mind that this year’s DATA MINING CUP Competition will be held in cooperation with Libri, Germany’s leading book wholesaler. Among Libri’s many successful support measures for booksellers, purchase recommendations give the bookshop a competitive advantage. Accordingly, the DATA MINING CUP 2009 challenge will be to forecast of purchase quantities of a clearly defined title portfolio per location, using simulated data.

The Task

The task of the DATA MINING CUP Competition 2009 is to forecast purchase quantities for 8 titles for 2,418 different locations. In order to create the model, simulated purchase data from an additional 2,394 locations will be supplied. All data refers to a fixed period of time. The object is to forecast the purchase quantities of these 8 different titles for the 2,418 locations as exactly as possible.

The Data

There are two text files available to assist in solving the problem: dmc2009_train.txt (train data file) and dmc2009_forecast.txt (data of 2,418 locations for whom a prediction is to be made).

Acknowledgement

This data is publicly available in the data-mining-website.

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.

Book sales revenue in the United States in 2024 amounted to *** billion U.S. dollars, of which *** billion was derived from hardback books. Meanwhile, paperbacks reached *** billion U.S. dollars, in line with trends showing consistent growth in this segment since 2017. The source reported e-book revenue as *** billion U.S. dollars, a drop from the previous two years, whereas downloaded audiobook revenue continued to grow, and in 2024 surpassed *****illion U.S. dollars.

Operators in the Online Used Book Sales industry sell used books in e-commerce marketplaces.

Sales for comic books and graphic novels through the direct market and bookstore channels in 2016. Direct market sales derived from John Jackson Miller's Diamond sales estimates. Bookstore sales derived from Brian Hibbs's analysis of Nielsen BookScan data.

Graph and download economic data for Producer Price Index by Commodity: Publishing Sales, Excluding Software: Sales of General Adult and Juvenile Books (WPU331104) from Dec 1980 to Jul 2025 about book, adult, printing, software, sales, commodities, PPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

The sales of books by language of printing , by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 511130 book publishers, which include all members under sales, (dollars X 1,000,000), every 2 years, for five years of data.

United States Retail Sales: Book Stores data was reported at 1.320 USD bn in Aug 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 661.000 USD mn for Jul 2018. United States Retail Sales: Book Stores data is updated monthly, averaging 1.022 USD bn from Jan 1992 (Median) to Aug 2018, with 320 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2.425 USD bn in Aug 2008 and a record low of 523.000 USD mn in Apr 1992. United States Retail Sales: Book Stores data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by US Census Bureau. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.H001: Retail Sales: By NAIC System.

Graph and download economic data for Breakdown of Revenue by Media Type: Books - Print Books for Book Publishers, All Establishments, Employer Firms (RPCMPBEF51113ALLEST) from 2013 to 2022 about book, printing, employer firms, accounting, revenue, establishments, services, and USA.

The Online Book Sales industry has faced mixed operating conditions. While an appreciating Australian dollar has made international book sites more price competitive, an overarching shift towards online shopping has driven local demand. Enhanced website design, improved navigation, and better online security and payment options have collectively boosted consumer confidence in online purchases. Industry revenue is expected to expand at an annualised 4.0% to $593.4 million over the five years through 2024-25. This trend includes a hike of 5.2% in the current year, as rising internet subscriber numbers, an upswing in consumer sentiment and an income hike encourage continued online spending. The Online Book Sales industry has experienced notable expansion, driven by the increased convenience and cost savings of online shopping. Books, being low-value and cost-efficient for delivery, have thrived in this environment. The surge in demand during the pandemic exemplified this trend, with lockdowns pushing consumers towards online purchases for entertainment. However, industry competition intensified as more entrants sought to capture market share. Traditional bookstores have also pivoted to online platforms, crowding the digital space. Legislative changes like Australia's GST adjustments since July 2018 have given local online stores a competitive edge. Yet, international giants continue to pose a challenge because of their extensive reach, economies of scale and an appreciating Australian dollar. Going forwards, revenue across the Online Book Sales industry is set to expand by an annualised 4.2% through the end of 2029-30 to $727.7 million. Rising internet subscriber numbers, stronger income growth, improved consumer sentiment, and enhanced online security and payment systems will provide opportunities for revenue to expand. Yet, greater competition from new entrants and established sites like Amazon and Booktopia will hamper profit growth. Digital formats, especially ebooks, will remain crucial, driven by ease of access and lower costs. Technological advancements will continue to enhance the quality and functionality of ebooks and ereaders, causing this segment to strengthen, notably within educational publishing, as schools and students seek more affordable and portable options.

From a newspaper article about analyzing amazon e-book sales by genre and publisher. Unfortunately, they do not have information on the book’s title or author. This collection includes 54,000 titles spanning across several genres and types of publishing companies, practically every book on every Amazon bestseller list. Along with publisher information, it also includes the book’s overall Amazon Kindle store sales ranking. This ranking is used to sort the books. Keep in mind that this data is NOT time-oriented; it is a collection of a bunch of different books, not a book over time.

Acknowlegement

Original Data

CORGIS Dataset Project

Foto von @felipepelaquim auf Unsplash

United States - Retail Sales: Book Stores was 565.00000 Mil. of $ in June of 2025, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Retail Sales: Book Stores reached a record high of 2370.00000 in August of 2008 and a record low of 164.00000 in April of 2020. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Retail Sales: Book Stores - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on September of 2025.

Estimates show that *** million e-books were sold in the United States in 2020, according to the most recently available data. Precise figures on e-book sales are difficult to gather due to smaller publishers and major retailers such as Amazon being missed from sales data, and other factors such as the varying methodologies sources use to track and measure the market. For example, whilst figures for 2016 and 2017 are lower than the immediately preceding years, it was noted that figures for these years only included around *** publishers. E-books in the U.S. E-book sales revenue in the United States fluctuates, and like unit sales, is prone to readjustments and changes in measurement. The best and most accurate estimates place revenue at over *********** U.S. dollars, the highest recorded so far but only a small improvement from the numbers given for 2017 and 2018. Expenditure on digital book readers also wavers, tending to hover between ** and ** U.S. dollars per year. In 2013, annual spending on e-readers averaged over ** U.S. dollars, but the number has not reached that level again since, suggesting that such devices have already lost ground as consumers instead opt to use their smartphones for on-the-go media consumption. E-book readers Book fans all across the United States read e-books, though data on e-book readers by urbanity shows that consumers in rural parts of the country are less likely to engage with the format than those living in urban and suburban areas. Survey data on print and digital book readership highlights the continued preference for print, with only a small number of consumers exclusively reading digital books. However, growing numbers of book readers favor a combination of print and digital books, which is good news for publishers branching out beyond traditional formats but still wanting to produce printed books.

The Book Publishing industry has undergone significant shifts driven by the digitization wave, changing consumer preferences and economic disruptions. As industry enterprises resumed production in 2021 following the adverse influence of the pandemic, sales have rebounded, temporarily buoying the industry. However, the industry remains pressured, with pent-up demand for books having largely been satisfied as of 2021, while continued rising prices of paper, a major input, have made production costs for books more expensive, resulting in higher prices hurting industry demand. Publishers have pivoted towards digital platforms, employing innovative strategies to monetize content, such as subscription-based models and leveraging social media for marketing. Industry revenue is expected to climb at a CAGR of 0.6% to $45.7 billion through the end of 2025, including an estimated 1.2% jump in 2025 alone, as profit shrinks to 5.6% of revenue. The industry has witnessed fluctuating fortunes. While print sales initially suffered during the pandemic, they rebounded strongly in 2021 as consumers returned to bookstores. Notably, the independent bookstore scene has thrived, driven by a renewed consumer preference for tactile book-buying experiences. The emergence of industry alternatives, such as audiobooks and self-publishing models, has driven publishers to explore direct-to-consumer sales, social media marketing opportunities and investments in online and education retail market presences. Larger publishers have resorted to strategic consolidations to maintain their market positions, yet these moves have raised alarm bells about market concentration and its impact on smaller players. Layoffs and restructurings at major companies, such as Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, underscore the broader challenges and adjustments within the industry. Moving forward, the industry is expected to show signs of stabilization despite turbulence experienced by the rise of e-books. While digital consumption continues to trend, traditional publishers must contend with the complexities of content monetization in an evolving market landscape. The resurgence of self-publishing and the blurring lines between traditional and hybrid publishing models offer authors multiple avenues but erode traditional publishing houses' control. With the price of paper, an essential input, continuing to swell, industry profitability will be pressured. Through the end of 2030, industry revenue is poised to modestly rise, exhibiting growth of 0.8% to $47.7 billion.

The E-Book Publishing industry has undergone volatile behavior throughout the past decade but has grown alongside technological advances. While e-book sales surged with the introduction of new mobile devices, industry-relevant revenue has wavered as consumer interest in e-books has diminished. There are signs that consumers may be fatigued with digital media texts and continue to consume printed material alone or in tandem with e-books and audiobooks when seeking longer-form book content. The pandemic and ensuing depletion of brick-and-mortar retail book sales enabled e-books to take advantage of opportune circumstances to grow. Major publishers have increasingly focused on digital catalogs, recognizing the advantages of lower production costs and instant availability. Industry revenue is slated to incline at an annualized rate of 0.5% to $4.3 billion through the end of 2024, including a 3.8% climb in 2024 alone. This comes as profit, measured as earnings before interest and taxes, is on track to reach 7.0% of industry revenue. Sales have shown variable growth rates, influenced by factors such as pricing models, subscription services, and the broader decline in overall book sales. Notably, digital-first publishers and self-published authors have gained traction, leveraging platforms like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and Wattpad to reach vast audiences. Sales have been tempered partially due to price hikes enacted by major publishers. Initially, Amazon.com Inc. (Amazon) and its Kindle platform accounted for most e-book sales and the e-commerce giant retailed e-books at a loss, far below publishers' suggested retail prices. After public pricing disputes, publishers negotiated a reformulation of their distribution agreement with Amazon and e-book prices rose for consumers. This shift leveled demand, partly because readers had grown accustomed to the lower price points. In the coming years, industry revenue will resume growth. E-book publishers will contend with several challenges, including the rise of self-publishing and the growing demand for audiobooks. At the same time, e-books will be supported by steady application in higher education and among consumers. E-book publishing revenue is poised to hike at an annualized rate of 2.5% to an estimated $4.8 billion through the end of 2029. As more enterprises exit the industry, profitability will improve.

This bar chart displays books by book publisher using the aggregation count. The data is filtered where the book publisher is Murry books sales. The data is about books.