Book Publishers NAICS 513130
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Industry Summary
The 2,100 Book publishers in the US perform design, editing, and marketing activities necessary for producing and distributing books in print, electronic, or audio form. Book categories include the Trade sector, learning and classroom materials for K-12 education, Higher Education books and materials, and professional, technical or scholarly journals. The Trade sector can be broken into Adult Fiction, Adult Non-Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Juvenile Non-Fiction, and Religion subcategories.
Growth of Self-Publishing
Ten years ago, authors were dependent on book publishers to reach readers, but today authors have the option of self-publishing their work in either eBook or printed formats.
Competition from Alternative Media
Books compete with other forms of entertainment for consumers’ time and dollars.
Recent Developments
May 12, 2026 - Publishers Seek Closure Of Online Book Archive
- Thirteen publishing houses want the remaining domains of the shadow library Anna’s Archive shut down. A lawsuit filed by the group of publishers claims that the platform hosts 63 million books and 95 million papers without a license. A ruling favorable to the group is no guarantee that all of the remaining domains will be blocked, however. Some domains operating outside US jurisdictions may not abide by a US court decision.
- Unit sales of print books at stores that report to Circana BookScan increased 0.3% in 2025, according to Publishers Weekly. It was the second consecutive annual sales increase, with sales hitting 762.4 million in 2025. Sales increased 0.5% year over year in 2024. Sales peaked in 2021 at 839.7 million copies, then settled at levels higher than before the pandemic, according to Publishers Weekly.
- Publishers are printing fewer nonfiction paperbacks, according to Jeffrey Trachtenberg, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal who covers book publishing and media. New adult nonfiction paperback titles have decreased 42% in the past five years, primarily because new books are typically published first in hardcover, e-book, and audiobook format. Consumers who don’t want to pay $32 for a new nonfiction hardcover book can immediately buy the $15 e-book or an audiobook. Audiobooks are the fastest-growing segment of book publishing, according to Trachtenberg.
- Book publishing industry employment decreased slightly and wages for nonsupervisory employees increased slightly during the first two months of 2026, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Book directory and mailing list and other publisher industry revenue decreased 0.7% year over year and 7.5% month over month during the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the US Census Bureau.
Industry Revenue
Book Publishers
Industry Structure
Industry size & Structure
The average book publisher operates a single location, has 27 employees, and generates about $14 million in annual revenue.
- The US book publishing industry consists of about 2,100 firms that employ 55,600 workers and generate $29 billion in annual revenue.
- The US book publishing industry sells 2-3 billion units annually, according to the Association of American Publishers.
- The industry consists of many small publishers (63% of establishments have less than five employees) but is concentrated, as the largest 20 firms represent 71% of industry revenue.
- The "Big Five" US trade book publishers are Hatchette Book Group (part of French media company, Lagardere), HarperCollins (a subsidiary of News Corp.), MacMillan Publishers (part of Germany's Holtzbrinck Publishing Group), Penguin Random House (jointly-owned by Germany's Bertelsmann) and Simon and Schuster (owned by CBS Corporation).
- Large textbook publishers include Pearson, Cengage, McGraw-Hill Education, Scholastic, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
- Large publishers of professional and technical books include RELX Group (formerly Reed Elsevier, UK-based) and Thompson Reuters.
Industry Forecast
Industry Forecast
Book Publishers Industry Growth
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