E-book revenue in the United States saw a 3.6% gain in March 2025 and generated $86.7 million. Every month this year so far, we have witnessed an increase compared to the same period last year. Year-to-date e-book revenues were up 4.6% as compared to the first three months of 2024 for a total of $270.7 million.
Digital audiobooks remain the fastest-growing segment in digital publishing. Digital Audio sales were up 7.7% for March, coming in at $76.6 million in revenue. The gain for the month was primarily due to people buying more content from Apple Books, Spotify Audiobooks, Audible, Libro.fm, and several other players. Year-to-date digital audiobook sales were up 6.8%, coming in at $245.0 million in revenue.
This data stems from the AAP StatShot report, which tracks the monthly and yearly net revenue of publishing houses from U.S. sales to bookstores, wholesalers, direct to consumer, online retailers, and other channels. StatShot draws revenue data from approximately 1,300 publishers.
In the end, I think it’s nice to see that e-book sales in the USA are not slowing down at all. This is primarily due to e-reader sales increasing every month, and people with existing devices continue to buy them. Digital audiobooks can be listened to anywhere. The vast majority of people use their smartphones and wireless earbuds or headphones, but increasingly, they are also used in the car.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.