Book Publishers NAICS 513130

Jan 16, 2026 - Publishers Seek To Join Lawsuit Over AI Training

• Major book publishers Hachette Book Group and Cengage Group filed a motion in mid-January to intervene in an existing class action lawsuit filed in 2025 against Google that accuses the tech giant of orchestrating "historic copyright infringement" to build its Gemini AI platform. The lawsuit currently involves groups of visual artists and authors who sued Google for allegedly misusing their work to train its generative AI systems. The publishers claim that Google downloaded books from pirate sites and then repeatedly copied them during the AI training process, first into computer memory, then into formats the AI systems could read, and again into training sets for each new model version.
• 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.

• The comic book and periodical industry is experiencing consolidation of small companies and acquisition of large companies by even larger, multi-genre publishers, according to information sector news site Clownfish TV. Boom! Studios recently sold itself to Penguin Random House, for example, and Dark Horse sold to Embracer Group in 2021. Many small comic book firms struggle financially, leading to mergers and to creators seeking movie and animation deals for financial success, according to Clownfish TV. Some larger comic book companies were started with the intention of selling them to major publishing firms. The comic book industry is facing distribution changes and low sales, but there is still high demand for certain products, according to Clownfish TV.
• Book publishing industry employment and wages for nonsupervisory employees increased slightly during the first eight months of 2025, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Book directory and mailing list and other publisher industry revenue decreased 0.4% year over year but increased 13.0% month over month during the second quarter of 2025, according to the US Census Bureau.