29 Book Sales Statistics, Facts, and Trends in 2023 (2023)

FAQs

Have book sales increased or decreased? ›

In 2022, over 788.7 million copies of printed books were sold in the United States. This figure was the second-highest sales mark for printed books in the 21st century, trailing only a record-setting 2021 with 843 million copies sold.

From 788 million copies of print books sold in 2022, over 404 million were fiction books, and 360 million were nonfiction books. Over 52.9% of all print book sales in the US in 2022 were in the fiction category.

Book sales are declining, but not in the romance genre Romance books are on the rise, even as overall book sales are declining.

Sales of print books in the US fell by 6.5% in 2022 compared to 2021 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan, Publishers Weekly has reported.

After soaring 18.9% in the first half of 2021 over the comparable period in 2020, unit sales of print books retreated in the first half of 2022, dropping 6.6% from 2021 levels. According to NPD BookScan, total first-half print sales were 362.6 million, down from 386.6 million a year ago.

Sales of hardcovers, likely hurt by rising prices (prompted in part by supply chain problems), fell 10.4%, while trade paperback sales fell only 2.4%. Trade paperbacks accounted for 60% of unit sales in 2022, up from 57% in 2021, while hardcovers' share of the market declined from 33% in 2021 to 30% last year.

Want to hit top 10? You'll need to sell roughly 300 for print, or 2,000+ copies for combined formats. Those numbers aren't exactly set in stone, but they're a pretty close approximation. To get onto Amazon's Bestseller Top 100 radar across all titles you're usually looking at about 1,000 sales of your book.

The average self-published book sells 250 copies. The average self-published author makes $1,000 per year from their books. 33% of self-published authors make less than $500 per year. 90% of self-published books sell less than 100 copies.

Revenue in the Books market is projected to reach US$82.29bn in 2023.

What is the book industry trend in 2023? ›

This year, non-fiction books will outsell fiction by a good margin. Nonfiction genres like children's books, politics, memoirs and autobiographies, business and economies, self-help, and philosophy are expected to sell more in 2023.

Since 2017, global book sales have had an average annual growth of -0.96%, dropping from $82.83 billion to $78.07 billion in 6 years. Projecting for the next 5 years, global book sales should reach $82.7 billion in 2027, with an average annual growth of 1.48%.

When all things are considered, the most popular book genre depends on the format and situation. The bestselling book genre is romance and the most profitable fiction book genre. Religious & inspirational books are the most popular non-fiction genre, whilst thrillers are the most popular audiobooks.

Leading up to the fall semester, late July and early August are the ideal times to sell your books. This is because companies know this is the last chance to acquire additional inventory prior to the start of classes.

Steinberg defined a bestseller as a book for which demand, within a short time of that book's initial publication, vastly exceeds what is then considered to be big sales.

You may lose interest in reading because of poor comprehension, stress, or weighty responsibilities. Alternative entertainment options like music and movies could also make reading seem boring. But there are many benefits of reading, like preventing cognitive decline.

There is a bright future for printed books, a recent survey finds. According to the results, printed books will continue to be important, relevant, interesting and still very much appreciated compared to e-books and audiobooks.

The report can be sum- marized in a single sentence: literary reading in America is not only declining among all groups, but the rate of decline has accelerated, especially among the young. electronic media, such as video games and the Internet, foster shorter attention spans and accelerated gratification.

Independent bookstores are getting squeezed from multiple directions, including competition from Amazon – whose massive purchasing power and low margins undercut brick-and-mortar operations – and consumer technology: ebooks, Kindles and tablets, and attention-stealing smartphones.

U.S. publishers sold 825.7 million print books in 2021, up 8.9% over the previous year, but Pew data shows that the share of Americans who read print books remained flat over that period, with readers increasingly picking up e-books and audiobooks.

What are the challenges of book selling? ›

The book marketplace has become over-saturated.

By 2020, Bowker had given out 40 million ISBN registrations to US publications (Dean Talbot, “Number of Books Published Per Year,” WordsRated, February 2, 2022).

Is writing a book profitable? Yes. If you want to make money writing books then you need to start treating writing like your full-time job. A lot of work goes into becoming a successful author, especially if you want to self-publish, as you'll be responsible for everything yourself.

To achieve bestseller status on the Times not only do you have to sell at least 5,000 – 10,000 copies in one week, but these sales have to be diverse sales.

Self-published authors can earn 40% to 60% royalties for the selling price of a book, while traditionally published authors typically earn 10% to 12% royalties. First-time authors willing to publish traditionally will receive a prepayment.

Royalty rates vary slightly, but on average, you can expect the following from traditional publishers: Hardcover sales: 15% Trade paperback sales: 7.5% Mass-market paperback sales: 5%

Most self-published authors sell 250 books or less, regardless of how many different books they write. Traditionally published books sell around 3,000 copies on average, with only 250 of those sales in the first year. It's rare that books sell over 100,000 copies and even rarer to sell more than a million.

Books will become cheaper and more easily accessible. Hypertext, embedded video, and other undreamt-of technologies will give rise to new poetic, rhetorical, and narrative possibilities. But a literary culture that has defined itself through paper books for centuries will surely feel the loss as they pass away.

How does a book become a #1 best seller? ›

Regardless of which list you want to make, to land on any bestseller list, generally you must sell at least 5,000 books in one week. This is the minimum sales goal. You may need to sell 10,000 copies in one week.

1. Young Adult. The number one top trending book genre for 2023 is Young Adult—I saw 104 mentions of it in the #MSWL hashtag.

However, books for kids ages 4 to 8 enjoyed the highest sales volume overall, with 88 million units sold in 2021 versus 64 million units of middle-grade books.

Since most major bestselling lists are compiled on Tuesdays, the wisdom seems to be, a Tuesday release gives the title a full week to garner sales and gain some kind of traction. Readers and booksellers alike look forward to Tuesdays because of the hot-off-the-press literary offerings.

According to Guinness World Records as of 1995, the Bible is the best-selling book of all time with an estimated 5 billion copies sold and distributed.

So, you need two things: a great book that inspires readers to evangelize for it and press it into the hands of friends and family, and some amount of marketing to help get the ball rolling. (As novelist and marketer MJ Rose often likes to say, no one buys a book they haven't heard of.)

TikTok impact on book publishing

Many books that received a sales increase were almost a decade old, whilst others gained popularity before their date of release. As the majority of TikTok users are under the age of 35, young adult category books in particular have seen boosts.

Why sales is decreasing? ›

One wrong decision could cause the business to spiral down and fail. A lot of business fail because of poor management. Improper delegation, poor employee management, financial mishaps, unhealthy culture, not being receptive to change, not expecting the unexpected; these are just some examples of poor leadership.

It has long been known that more books are sold in times of financial difficulties than when times are good. One reason is that people spend more time at home, another is the link between studying and bad times.

In determining the value of a book there are three basic elements: 1) rarity, 2) condition, and, 3) demand. Books with the most value normally have all three of these elements, and the loss of any will likely result in a loss of value. Age of the book is not always a key factor in value.

When sales slow down too much, the publisher will usually liquidate any unsold copies by massively reducing the price. If the books still don't sell, the remainders are usually destroyed through a process called 'pulping'.

According to Guinness World Records as of 1995, the Bible is the best-selling book of all time with an estimated 5 billion copies sold and distributed. Sales estimates for other printed religious texts include at least 800 million copies for the Qur'an and 190 million copies for the Book of Mormon.

Statistics. According to an EPJ Data Science study that used big data to analyze every New York Times bestselling book from 2008 to 2016, of the 100,000 new, hardcover print books published each year, fewer than 500 make it on to The New York Times Best Seller list (0.5 percent).

The best-selling book of all time is the Christian Bible.

The late Zig Ziglar said that there are five main reasons why people don't buy, No need, No Desire, No Money, No Hurry, and No Trust.

A Lack of Appreciation

There are countless reasons why salespeople quit. Better pay, a lack of career development opportunities, and a poor work-life balance are just a few that come to mind.

What sells best in a recession? ›

Pre-packaged food items, like chips and cookies, offer shelf-stable options to help ensure your stock doesn't go bad as you're building consumer awareness of your expanded offerings. Toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, toilet paper, and other grooming and personal care items are always in demand.

Qualifications aside, if you are a new writer at a big publisher and you've sold more than 10,000 copies of a novel you are in very good shape — as long as you didn't have a large advance. It should be easy for you to get another book contract. If you sold more than 5,000, you are doing pretty well.