The number of traditionally published books in 2025 increased by 6.6%, from 602,428 titles in 2024 to 642,242. This total includes 310,513 books published with Bisac codes, used to facilitate their categorization.
Andrew Kovacs, product marketing manager at Bowker, cites several factors that may explain the resurgence of self-published book sales in 2025, after a decline in 2024 compared to 2023 levels. This includes the growing adoption of new tools within the author community. Kovacs states, “The fact that every aspect of the editing process, once only available from traditional publishers, can now be obtained from self-publishing service providers with a comparable level of quality is likely the main factor driving the increase in production.”
Les genres qui dominent
From the self-publishing side, the five most widely circulated genres in 2025 are fiction, youth nonfiction, games and activities, youth fiction, and travel. These categories, along with personal development, also seeing a significant increase, accounted for over half of the overall production increase.
In traditional publishing, adult fiction remains at the top, followed by youth fiction, youth, business and economics, and religion. However, the number of different titles published in the first two segments saw a slight decrease compared to 2024.
