Total net book sales in December in the U.S. rose 9.4%, to $1.035 billion, compared to December 2024, representing sales of 1,324 publishers and distributed clients as reported to the Association of American Publishers. For the full year, net book sales rose 1.1%, to $14.637 billion. The December gains follow gains in September, October, and November, which were the first gains in book sales since March.
In December, trade book sales were up 14.2%, to $830.4 million, while for the year, trade book sales were down 0.5%, to $9.768 billion. The biggest categories with sales jumps in December included adult, children's/YA, university press, and religious hardcovers and paperbacks. Lagging categories included e-books, digital audio, and the gradually disappearing mass market format.
Adult book net revenue in December rose 9.4%, with fiction increasing 2.9% and nonfiction up 16.8%. Children's/YA net revenue jumped 27.6%, with fiction up 24.9% and nonfiction up 38.4%.
In terms of format, in December trade hardcover sales rose 13.5%, to $307.6 million, paperbacks rose 27.5%, to $296.3 million, mass market dropped 61.6%, to $3.9 million, and special bindings rose 2.6%, to $21.8 million. E-book revenues fell 2.8%, to $78.7 million, digital audio dropped 0.8%, to $92 million, and physical audio rose 0.1%, to $500,000.
Sales by category for December 2025:
