Sales from the more than 1,416 publishers who report revenue to the Association of American Publishers’ StatShot program rose 0.9% in the first quarter of 2026 compared to a year ago. Sales from reporting publishers hit $2.9 billion.

Every category except for adult books and religion had sales increases in the quarter, with professional/scholarly books and university press titles both posting increases of 5.7% in the quarter.

For 2026, AAP has combined the PreK-12 instructional materials and higher educational materials segments into one education category. For the quarter, sales in this new category rose 3.2%. Sales for children’s/YA books also rose 2.6% in the period.

Sales of religion books, which have been solid for several years, fell 1.4% in the quarter, while sales in the industry’s biggest segment, adult books, slipped 0.5%. The decline in adult books was due entirely to a weak performance by nonfiction, where sales fell 7.8% in the period offsetting a 5.5% increase in fiction.

Publishers Saw Small Sales Gains in Q1