Print's Place in a Modern Book Launch: What the Data Show

Updated Oct 2026: this editorial has been rewritten and now cites its sources.

Book launches today often lean on digital tools: retailer pages, online advertising, social media posts and email campaigns. Yet print still accounts for a large share of what readers actually buy, and physical places such as bookstores and libraries continue to play a part in how readers discover books. This editorial examines what the available sales and survey data say about the place of print in a modern launch, and it reviews the documented terms that shape a print launch for an independent author or a small press.

Print sales are stable

Print has held its ground. According to Publishers Weekly, unit sales of print books at outlets reporting to Circana BookScan reached 762.4 million in 2025, an increase of 0.3% on 2024, a year that had itself grown 0.5% over 2023. PW said that since the peak of 839.7 million copies in 2021, sales have settled at levels higher than those recorded before the pandemic.

Within that overall total, some categories moved sharply. Sales of self-help titles rose 14.7%, led by Mel Robbins's The Let Them Theory, published by Hay House, which sold more than 2.8 million copies and ranked as the bestselling book of the year at BookScan outlets. Romance climbed 3.9% to almost 44 million units. Among independent publishers, the bestselling title was Navessa Allen's Lights Out, from Zando, which sold more than 595,000 copies.

Format matters

Publisher revenue data indicate that format is also a significant factor in a print launch. The Association of American Publishers' StatShot report for 2025, as reported by Publishers Weekly, is based on financial results from 1,324 reporting publishers rather than on the industry-wide estimates found in AAP's separate StatShot Annual report. It found that adult fiction sales slipped 0.8%, held back by a 7% decline in trade paperbacks that offset a 5.7% increase in hardcover sales. Within the same category, digital audio rose 7.6%, while ebook sales were flat. Looking across segments, the report found that sales of adult books slipped 1.6% to $6.37 billion, while sales in children's and young adult rose 1% to $2.47 billion and religion sales rose 2.9% to $926 million. These are publisher revenue figures rather than unit sales, but they illustrate how widely results varied by segment and by format within a single year.

For a launch, the implication is that the choice of a first format deserves the same careful attention as the marketing plan built around it.

Where readers find books

Reader surveys show that physical channels remain part of the discovery mix. Written Word Media's 2026 reader survey drew 3,589 responses from the company's own audience. In it, readers named libraries (29%) and bookstores (27%) among the places where they most often find new books, alongside Amazon (68%), email newsletters (64%), Goodreads (46%), friends and family (45%) and social media (42%). Because the respondents are subscribers to the company's newsletters, the figures reflect an engaged audience oriented toward email.

Planning the launch window

Pre-orders give a print and ebook launch a window in which demand can build. For the ebook edition only, KDP's Kindle eBook Pre-Order help page allows a release date up to 18 months ahead for pre-orders created on or after September 2, 2026; pre-orders are not available for paperbacks or hardcovers.

Getting into stores

A print launch aimed at bookstores depends on terms that those bookstores will accept. IngramSpark, which distributes print books to retailers and libraries, advises publishers seeking shelf space to set a competitive wholesale discount, for example 50% to 55%, and, where possible, to offer returns. The company cautions that returns can be very costly and that publishers need to be financially prepared to handle them. In IngramSpark's view, selling with a wholesale discount and making a book returnable through a distributor is a good way to place it on bookstore shelves.

KDP offers a different route. Its print pricing terms pay 50% or 60% of the list price for standard Amazon distribution, depending on the price, and 40% for Expanded Distribution, which reaches other retailers, with the printing cost subtracted in each case. Expanded Distribution is not available for hardcovers.

The pressure on bookshops

Physical bookshops face costs of their own. In August 2026 the Guardian reported that Philip Pullman and Maggie O'Farrell were among authors urging Burnham to cut business rates on bookshops, in an appeal addressed to Prime Minister Andy Burnham. The campaign shows that the stores on which a print launch depends are operating under financial pressure of their own.

Honest promotion

Print launches frequently rely on early readers and on reviews, and federal rules apply to both. The Federal Trade Commission's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials, which took effect on 21 October 2024, prohibits creating, buying or selling fake reviews, as well as buying positive or negative reviews. The 2023 case of Cait Corrain, whose debut Del Rey dropped after she admitted using fake Goodreads accounts, demonstrates the reputational risk that manipulation around a launch can carry.

A launch checklist grounded in the data

• Choose the first format deliberately. According to AAP, adult fiction hardcovers rose in 2025 while trade paperbacks fell.
• Use the pre-order window. KDP now permits ebook pre-orders up to 18 months ahead of release; print editions cannot be pre-ordered.
• Decide on bookstore terms early. Wholesale discounts and returns determine whether stores will stock a book.
• Reach readers where they look. In reader surveys, libraries and bookstores sit alongside Amazon and email.
• Keep reviews honest. The FTC rule sets clear limits on what is allowed.

Conclusion

Print remains central to the book market, with stable unit sales and growth in some formats and categories. A modern launch does not need to choose between print and digital. The evidence supports planning for both: setting print formats and trade terms deliberately, and drawing on digital tools such as pre-orders and email to build demand for the physical book.