23 Gripping Book Industry Statistics [2023]: How Many Books Were Published in 2022

Book industry research summary. From riveting romance novels to the latest political science theories, the U.S. book industry plays a massive role in education, entertainment, and more. After extensive research, our data analysis team concluded:

• The U.S. book industry made $28.1 billion in revenue in 2022

• Including self-published and commercially published, over 4 million new books were published in 2022.

• Romance is the most popular genre of books sold in the US, achieving over 32 million print copies sold in 2022.

• In the U.S., approximately 1,700 independent bookselling companies are operating 4,100 stores.

• Total U.S. book sales hit 788.7 million units in 2022 across all print sales — a 4.5% decrease from 2021.

For further analysis, we broke down the data in the following ways:
Print vs. eBook | Audiobook | Textbook | Trends

General U.S. book industry statistics

Books sold in the U.S. remains stagnant, despite a substantial increase in the number of books published. No doubt, the book industry struggles to compete with other mediums. Here are the facts:

• 2.3 million new books were self-published in the U.S. in 2021

  That’s an increase of over 93% within the past five years and makes up 57.5% of the total new books published.



• Penguin Random House is the largest book publisher in the U.S., earning $3.3 billion in revenue (2019).

  And this publisher is one of the five other publishers known as the “big five.” Publishers in the “big five” other than Penguin Random House include Hachette Book Group, Harper Collins, Simon and Schuster, and Macmillan.



• As of 2022, the U.S. trade book publishing industry had $10.60 billion in net revenue.

  A number that has decreased since 2019, when the net revenue was $16.23 billion. However, $10.60 also marks a slight increase from 2021, when net revenue was under $10 billion.

• In the U.S, the best-selling book of 2022 was ‘It Ends with Us’ by Colleen Hoover.

  The book sold just under 2.73 million copies in 2022, 730,000 million copies more than the next runner-up: ‘Verity’, also by Colleen Hoover.

• There are 68,670 people employed in the Book Publishing industry and 44,240 writers.

  And the number of people employed has increased slightly from 2016-2021, at a rate of 1.4%.

• Revenue from consumer books grew by 6% in 2020, while PreK-12 revenue dropped by 12.3%.

  It’s no surprise that 2020 was a time when consumers were clamoring for any form of entertainment while stuck inside. It’s equally unsurprising that the sale of school books saw a massive decline, as students across the country spent a significant portion of their school year attending classes from home.

US book industry revenue change by category 2019-2020

Category	2019-2020 Decline/Growth %	2020 Revenue
Consumer	6%	$16.67B
Higher Educatoin	-5.70%	$3.1B
PreK-12	-12.30%	$3.84B
Professional	-14.5	$1.68B
University Presses	2.90%	$0.39B

Print vs. eBook statistics

eBook sales still fall far behind that of print, despite the ever-growing presence of technology. Here are some insights our research uncover

• eBooks only make up 9% of total Book industry revenue.

  Of the $26 billion in revenue made last year, $22.6 billion came from print books, while only $2.04 billion came from eBooks.

• eBooks sold a whopping 526 million units in 2022.

  This was a sharp 175% increase over 2020, likely due to the pandemic and the increased presence of technology.

• Printed book sales reached 788.7 million units in 2022.

  While printed book sales fell between 2021-2022, there is still a gap between printed books sold and eBooks sold. However, this gap is quickly shrinking due to the massive growth of eBooks.

Audiobook statistics

Audiobooks have also grown immensely in popularity since their conception in 1932. In fact, despite making up only 10% of book sales, audiobooks are the fastest-growing book type in the industry. According to our research:

• 74,000 audiobooks were published in 2022.

  Between 2019-2020, the number of audiobooks published saw a sharp increase of 39%. While this growth has decreased, the number of audiobooks sold did increase from 71,000 to 74,000 between 2020-2021.

• U.S. audiobook revenue reached $1.81 billion in 2022.

  This is an increase of 23% from the year prior and marks the 10th year in a row for double-digit revenue growth.

• Audible is the most popular audiobook website.

  And reached sales of $940 million, with a growth rate of 24.5%. Audible also has over 200,000 audiobooks available.

Textbook statistics

Textbooks are an important part of American education. However, everyone is well aware of the price bloating within this subsection of the book industry. Here’s what we found about the textbook industry:

• The textbook publishing industry made $3.18 billion in revenue in 2021.

  This was actually a decrease of 59.9% from 2021, which saw a total revenue of $7.93 billion. In fact, the revenue of the textbook publishing industry has been steadily decreasing since 2015, when revenue reached $11.96 billion.

• In the U.S., the average textbook costs $84.

  This, while being a decrease from $110 in 2015, still means that the average college student spends $1240.00 on textbooks over 4 years.

• Grades 4-6 have the most textbook usage in the classroom, at over 80%.

  And this seems to affect test scores, as 4th-grade students who read the textbook daily as opposed to once a month received 6% higher test scores.

US book industry trends and predictions

The book industry has experienced somewhat stable growth, and impressive growth in eBooks and audiobooks. However, is the book industry growing sustainably, or has it declined in some areas? Here’s what we found:

• The U.S. publishing industry only had a CAGR of 1% in 2021.

  While this isn’t a direct decline, it’s still very low. However, even a 1% CAGR is still expected to increase industry income by $18.69 billion between 2021-2025.

• On the other hand, the digital publishing market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.4% from 2021 to 2028.

  Likely due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the digital publishing market is estimated to grow much more than the overall industry. Theoretically, it should grow from $24.6 million in 2021 to $37.9 million by 2028.

• eBook sales increased by 175% from 2020-2022.

  Overall, eBook and audiobook sales have increased by a much steeper rate than that of print. The sales of eBooks alone increased several times more than that of print.

• Barnes and Noble’s sales declined by 22.3% in 2021.

  The largest bookseller in the U.S., Barnes and Noble, has seen a steady decline for several years. From 2020-2021, the company has experienced a $382.4 million sales decline.

US book publishing market size over time

US book industry FAQ

1. How many books were published in 2022?

   4 million new books were published in 2022. A little over half of these books were likely self published, which partially explains the huge numbers. If it takes 4.5 hours to read the average book, that means it would take you over 2,000 years just to read the number of books published in one year!

2. How much is the US book industry worth?

   The US Book industry is worth $29.8 billion. However, this number isn’t split up evenly. eBooks and audiobooks only make up 9% and 10% of the market, respectively, whereas print still dominates the market.

3. Are books a dying industry?

   No, books are not a dying industry. While the introduction of technology has led many to believe that the book industry is dying, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.

   At worst, book sales have only increased in value by 1.4%, but at best, print sales have seen 8.2% growth, and eBook and audiobook sales have seen over 12% growth.

   Plus, more new books are being written now than ever, with 2.3 million self-published books being made in 2021, which is over 93% more than five years prior.

4. What is the growth rate of the book publishing industry?

   The growth rate of the book publishing industry is estimated to be -0.1% from 2022-2023.

   The growth rate of the book publishing industry is somewhat lower than other aspects of the overall book industry. Currently, the book publishing industry’s market size is expected to remain stagnant in 2023.

5. How many books are sold in the US each year?

   Between 700-900 million books are sold in the US per year. 2020 set a record with 942 million units sold in the US, across both eBook and print editions. That represents a 9% increase from 2019 — However, only 788.7 million books were sold in 2022.

6. Is Amazon becoming a monopoly in the publishing world?

   Yes, many experts believe that Amazon is approaching de facto monopoly status in the publishing world. Amazon controls up to 80% of all book distribution in the US, and many worry that the company has engaged in anti-competitive and even predatory practices that has left publishers “racing to the bottom.”

   In August of 2020, representatives from the Author’s Guild, the American Association of Publishers, and the American Booksellers Association sent a letter to Congress that expressed their concern over the matter. There was no appreciable response.

Conclusion

Contrary to popular belief, the book industry has seen stable growth within the past five years and is expected to continue growing. For example, new self-published books have increased by 93% in the past five years.

eBooks and audiobooks have seen even larger growth, with sales increasing by 12.6% and 12%, respectively. Overall, digital markets are seeing the most growth, even though eBooks and audiobooks combined only makeup 19% of the market. This may change, though, as the digital publishing market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.4% from 2021 to 2028.

In conclusion, the book industry is far from being on its deathbed, and it is, in fact growing steadily each year.

References

1. Statista. “U.S. book industry – statistics facts.” Accessed on June 28, 2023.

2. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. “The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing.” Accessed on June 28, 2023.

3. ProActive Writer. “Which Book Genre Is The Most Popular In 2021?” Accessed on June 28, 2023.

4. Publisher’s Weekly. “Ranking America’s Largest Publishers.” Accessed on June 28, 2023.

5. IBISWorld. “Book Publishing in the US – Employment Statistics 2005–2027.” Accessed on June 28, 2023.

6. CNBC. “Physical books still outsell e-books — and here’s why.” Accessed on June 28, 2023.

7. Publishing Perspectives. “APA Cites 12-Percent 2020 US Audiobook Revenue Growth.” Accessed on June 28, 2023.

8. Good E Reader. “Audiobook Trends and Statistics for 2020.” Accessed on June 28, 2023.

9. Education Data. “Average Cost of College Textbooks.” Accessed on June 28, 2023.

10. Academic Authors Association. “Textbook Usage in the United States: the Case of U.S. History.” Accessed on June 28, 2023.

11. MarketWatch. “Publishing Market Share, Growth 2021 Global Industry Size, CAGR of 1%, Future Trends, Growth Key Factors, Demand, Sales and Income, Manufacture Players, and Forecast 2025.” Accessed on June 28, 2023.

12. The Insight Partners. “Digital Publishing Market ($37.94Bn by 2028) Growth Forecast at 6.4% CAGR During 2021 to 2028 COVID Impact and Global Analysis by TheInsightPartners.com.” Accessed on June 28, 2023.

13. Businesswire. “Barnes Noble Education Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2021 Financial Results.” Accessed on June 28, 2023.

14. Publihsers Weekly. “A Year for the (Record) Books in Publishing”. Accessed on June 28, 2023.

Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.