The publishing sector exceeds 3.1 billion euros in turnover after growing by 3.3% in 2025

The Spanish publishing sector grew in 2025 for the 12th consecutive year and reached a turnover of 3,138.51 million euros3.3% more than the previous year, of which 2,945.53 million corresponded to books published in paper format (+3.1%) and 174.39 million to digital books (+5.3%), according to the Preview of the 2025 Domestic Book Trade Report presented this Thursday by the Federation of Publishers Guilds of Spain (FGEE) within the framework of the Madrid Book Fair.

According to this report, all Spanish publishing companies have recorded twelve consecutive years of growth. Since 2014, the year in which the current growth path began, turnover has increased by 942.71 million euros, close to 43 percent. In addition, since 2021 it has accumulated 562 million euros, a growth of 21 percent in the last five years.

“These figures reflect that what our European colleagues have called as ‘Spanish’ or ‘Iberian’ phenomenon, since we are the two countries in which sales growth has been maintained, especially in recent years“explained Manuel González, president of the Federation of Editors’ Guilds of Spain (FGEE).

González has pointed out that Among the factors that explain this situation “is the increase in reading rates” that has been detected in recent years through the Barometer. The growth of the publishing sector has been supported by the growth of adult fiction books, whose turnover increased by 17.2 percent, to 831 million euros, and by children’s and youth literature, which registered an increase of 17.8 percent and approached 650 million euros in sales.

Another sector that has registered significant growth has been comics, comics and graphic novels, which increased their turnover by 38.6 percent, to 97.3 million euros. On the contrary, textbooks reduced their revenues by 7.8 percent, to 713 million euros, while non-fiction titles fell 9.2 percent, to 825.4 million euros.

In terms of volume, the sector sold 196.1 million printed copies during 2025, 0.8 percent more than the previous year. The average price was 15 euros per copy, 33 cents more than in 2024.

MORE THAN 89,000 TITLES PUBLISHED

Publishing production reached 89,107 titles, 1.8 percent more than the previous year. Of them, 61,831 were paper books, 3.5 percent more, while 27,276 corresponded to digital publications.

The Spanish publishing catalog almost reached one million live titles on offer, reaching 983,209, 3.6 percent more than in 2024. The average print circulation has continued to decrease and stood at 3,374 copies per title, 4.1 percent less than the previous year, while the total number of printed copies fell by 0.7 percent, to 208.6 million.

On the other hand, Digital book turnover has increased by 5.3 percent in 2025 and has reached 174.4 million eurosequivalent to 5.6 percent of the total publishing market. Likewise, digital downloads and sales grew by 10.7 percent, to 20.4 million, while the average price fell to 8.6 euros, 44 cents less than the previous year.

Non-fiction has been the main category in digital format, with a turnover of 101.2 million euros, followed by adult fiction and children’s and youth literature, both with increases of close to 16 percent. For their part, audiobooks have once again recorded strong growth. Its turnover has reached 15.3 million euros, 53.3 percent more than in 2024, multiplying the income obtained in 2020 by more than seven.

BOOKSTORES CONCENTRATE 60.6% OF SALES

Bookstores and bookstore chains continued to be the main marketing channels for paper books.. The former billed 1,192.9 million euros, 8.3 percent more, while the chains reached 592 million euros, with an increase of 5.9 percent.

Together, both channels accounted for 60.6 percent of paper book sales. If sales to companies and institutions are added, these three channels represented 75 percent of the total turnover of printed books in Spain.