The Audio Publishers Association reports, based on a recent survey, that sales revenue increased 9 percent in 2025 versus 2024. The fastest-growing genres were humor, general fiction, and children’s/YA. Also, sales revenue from audio-first publications increased 50 percent last year, to $136 million, out of a $2.4 billion market. Nearly half of audiobook listeners have listened to an audiobook on YouTube, up from 35 percent in 2024.
Audible recently announced more than 50 million minutes of AI audio listening, but it’s a tiny percentage of the overall market, according to the APA consumer survey. Sixteen percent of audiobook listeners have listened to an AI-voiced audiobook; sales revenue amounted to .03 percent in 2025.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
