Print Book Sales Slipped in First Half of 2025

More softness in adult nonfiction in the second quarter and slowing sales in adult fiction combined to drop unit sales of print books 1.6% in the first six months of 2025 compared to the same period a year ago at outlets that report to Circana BookScan. Sales from the six major print categories fell to around 343.6 million from 347.5 million in the first half of 2024.

Adult fiction has been the strongest category for several years, and had a solid first quarter driven by blockbuster sales of Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros, the deluxe edition of which sold about 1.6 million copies while the standard edition sold nearly 350,000 copies in Q1. Lacking that type of volume in the second quarter, sales slipped about 1% in the quarter leading to a 1% increase in adult fiction for the first half of the year.

Onyx Storm remained the year’s top selling title with the deluxe and standard editions combining to sell more than 2 million copies through the first half of 2025, but overall sales in the romantasy category couldn’t keep pace with the first half of 2024, when Sarah J. Maas titles sold more than 3 million copies and Yarros’s Iron Flame and Fourth Wing combined to sell about 1.1 million copies in the first half of last year.

Adult nonfiction sales fell 3.1% in the first half of the year despite a stellar performance by The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins, which sold more than 1.7 million copies. The biography/autobiography/memoir subcategory had the biggest decline in adult nonfiction, with units falling 10.7%. General nonfiction sales also took a big hit with units down 9.9%. Sales of religion books, which rose by 12% in the first half of 2024, continued to sell well in the first half this year, up 16% over the comparable period in 2024.

Young adult fiction sales inched up only 0.1% in the first half of the year despite big sales from Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, which sold nearly 1.7 million copies. All other subcategories in young adult fiction had a sales drop in the first half of 2025 with general fiction posting the largest decline.

YA nonfiction sales increased 2.9% in the first half of the year, but results feature the usual caveat—the first four bestsellers on the list are adult coloring books, which sold a total of about 200,000 copies.

Juvenile fiction sales slipped 0.8%. Dav Pilkey’s latest book in his Dog Man series, Big Jim Begins, was the category’s top-selling title, selling over 500,000 copies. Two backlist books followed: Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, which sold about 436,000 and 250,000 copies, respectively.

Juvenile nonfiction sales inched up 0.2%. Solid gains in the games/activities/hobbies and history/sports/people/places subcategories offset a 30% decline in sales of biographies/autobiographies.

This chart has been updated.

Source: Circana BookScan