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July Book Sales Rose 14%. Here's What Drove It.
AAP's July StatShot shows publishing revenue up 14.0% to $1.0 billion, with trade up 16.4%. Adjusted for inflation the gain is smaller, and a handful of bestsellers did much of the work.
How did U.S. book sales do in July 2026? Very well. The Association of American Publishers' July StatShot, released September 22, puts total publishing revenue at $1.0 billion, up 14.0 percent from July 2025. For the year to date, revenue is up 5.4 percent to $6.7 billion. The figures come from about 1,416 reporting publishers.
The $1.0 billion is the industry total. Trade (consumer) books, the part most authors care about, were $804.1 million, up 16.4 percent.
Trade by format, July 2026
| Format | Revenue | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Paperback | $311.6M | +25.2% |
| Hardback | $242.5M | +18.5% |
| Downloaded audio | $103.1M | +12.4% |
| eBooks | $85.3M | −3.4% |
| Mass market | $5.8M | −43.7% |
For the year, trade revenue is up 5.5 percent to $5.4 billion. Mass market is down 62.7 percent year to date and is now a sliver of trade sales. Outside trade, education was up 2.3 percent, religious presses were down 4.3 percent, and professional and scholarly publishing was down 2.9 percent.
Inflation takes a share
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says consumer prices rose 3.4 percent in the 12 months ending July 2026. Adjusted for that, July's 14 percent gain is closer to 10 percent in real terms. That's still a strong month, and less dramatic than the headline number.
A few big books did much of the work
Publishers Weekly's analysis shows how concentrated the gains were:
- Adult nonfiction rose 23 percent in July, led by Regime Change by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, which sold more than 135,000 copies in the month according to Circana BookScan. Even so, adult nonfiction is down 0.2 percent for the year.
- Adult fiction rose 16.5 percent, led by Theo of Golden at more than 208,000 copies.
- Children's and YA nonfiction rose 29.8 percent and children's and YA fiction rose 13.7 percent. University presses were up 15.2 percent.
- PW notes that June was also up, by 11 percent.
When one category jumps 23 percent in a month but is flat for the year, a few big releases are carrying it.
What it means for authors
- Print is leading the growth. Paperbacks and hardcovers made most of July's gains. Authors who publish only in ebook are missing that market.
- Audio keeps growing. Downloaded audio was up double digits again. If you haven't made an audiobook, it's worth pricing one.
- Ebooks in this data are traditional publishers' ebooks. StatShot covers reporting publishers, not most self-published KDP sales. An ebook decline here says little about Kindle Unlimited.
What it does NOT mean
One strong month doesn't make a boom. The year-to-date growth of 5.4 percent is only slightly ahead of inflation, and July was helped by a few big books.
Desk takeaway
Readers are buying printed books, and big releases are driving the numbers. For independent authors, the practical lesson is to have your print editions ready.