Compared to the first three months of 2025, print book sales this year are down by 3.1 percent, according to Circana BookScan. In a bright spot of news, though, children’s sales saw growth—the only category to do so. The top-selling title of the year so far is the originally self-published Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. The only two adult nonfiction categories to see growth were crafts/hobbies/games and religion. Learn more in Publishers Weekly.
Meanwhile, Publishers Lunch reports that deal making is “looking more fractured” this year. While adult fiction continues to drive the marketplace and nonfiction deals are flat, total deals in the children’s market were down 18 percent (sub required).
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.
