By Jim Foley –

Estimated studying time: 7 minutes

In 2025, print books turned more durable to position in shops — however much more worthwhile for authors who offered direct to readers.

As huge retailers carried fewer titles and relied extra closely on algorithms and gross sales velocity to resolve what stayed on cabinets, many unbiased and area of interest books have been filtered out and never due to high quality, however as a result of the massive retailers and wholesalers are prioritizing fewer titles and principally titles from the bigger publishing homes.

The bodily printed e book enterprise continues to undergo a serious reset. Large retailers are far more selective than up to now, taking fewer dangers, and relying extra closely on algorithms and gross sales velocity to resolve what stays in inventory and what disappears from cabinets. That has created a troublesome surroundings for indie publishers, authors, area of interest titles, and new releases that don’t instantly explode out of the gate.

That is the place phrases like “low-velocity vendor” began to matter in very actual methods.
In in the present day’s mainstream retail ecosystem, books that don’t promote quick and in giant portions are being shut out of the standard gross sales channels.

However right here’s the good information — and it’s essential:

Print demand didn’t go away.

Readers didn’t cease loving bodily books.

Authors didn’t cease promoting them.

What modified for indies was the place the gross sales have been taking place.

Right here’s a take a look at how printed e book gross sales broke out for BookBaby authors in 2025.

The yr in assessment

Now for the thrilling half. Within the slide above, you’ll be able to see that from a pure unit standpoint, Amazon remains to be the most important print gross sales channel for our authors’ books. And that is sensible since Amazon has an enormous buyer base and readers are snug shopping for there.

Amazon is a strong discovery and achievement engine.

However items offered is just half the story.

Within the slide under, one thing much more essential reveals up:

Although authors offered roughly twice as many print books on Amazon, they earned about twice as a lot cash from direct gross sales by means of the BookBaby Bookshop.

Why?

As a result of on Amazon, there may be the retailer margin, and achievement charges consuming into the writer’s income. On the BookBaby Bookshop, authors set the listing worth and earn 50% on the sale.
So whereas Amazon delivers quantity, BookBaby Bookshop delivers revenue.

And in 2026, that’s the mixture sensible authors are constructing their enterprise round:
Use Amazon for attain and BookBaby Bookshop for income.

With a single Bookshop hyperlink, each social publish, electronic mail, and point out of your e book turns into a direct-to-reader gross sales channel and that could be a highly effective instrument so that you can use to promote your books in probably the most worthwhile method potential.

A altering wholesale panorama

One of many extra important shifts in 2025 occurred behind the scenes within the wholesale and distribution layer of the e book enterprise.

Lengthy-standing gamers like Small Press United, Baker & Taylor, Reader Hyperlink, Lectorum Publications, and Diamond Comics all exited or dramatically modified their operations this yr. These firms weren’t family names to most readers, however they performed an essential position in getting unbiased and area of interest titles into bookstores, libraries, and specialty retailers for many years.

They helped construct the trendy e book ecosystem.

So it’s price tipping our hats to the groups behind these organizations and acknowledging that their departures sign one thing greater than only a few firm closures.

What we’re seeing is a reshaping of the center of the availability chain. Massive retailers are catering extra completely to bigger publishers, leveraging automation, and data-driven stock selections. On the similar time, smaller wholesalers who as soon as acted as bridges for unbiased publishers are discovering it more durable to outlive in a world dominated by only a few large platforms.

For authors, this doesn’t imply fewer readers.It means fewer intermediaries, and a sharping of deal with the channels that drive your earnings.

And that’s one of many causes direct-to-reader fashions, Print On Demand, and platforms like BookBaby Bookshop are key to printed e book promoting success. When the previous distribution paths shrink, the authors who thrive are those who can attain their viewers with no need permission from the center.

The sands are shifting however alternative is shifting with them.

What this all means for authors in 2026

The winners are the authors who constructed direct relationships with readers and used each format strategically.

Right here’s what the trendy publishing stack now seems to be like:

eBooks and audiobooks offer you world attain, prompt supply, and everlasting discoverability. They’re your always-on gross sales engine. Our eBook and audiobook distribution runs on a contemporary, cloud-based spine that retains titles reside, searchable, and out there throughout world retailers always — with out the fragility of bodily logistics. In a yr when print provide chains and wholesalers have been careworn and unpredictable, BookBaby authors had a digital gross sales engine that merely stored working, quietly and reliably, across the clock.

Printed books The ability of print is emotional and tangible. Targeted Amazon gross sales be certain that affect reaches readers with pace, belief, and comfort. The info reveals that Amazon sells probably the most printed e book items. And with BookBaby you get our top-quality printed books offered by means of Amazon.

BookBaby Bookshop offers you a spot the place all of that comes collectively the place you personal the client relationship, earn huge payouts on each sale, and by no means lose entry to your readers as a result of a retailer or wholesaler modified its guidelines. The info reveals that authors earn probably the most cash promoting by means of their BookBaby Bookshop pages.

That mixture is extremely highly effective.

The large retailers will proceed to evolve. They’ll carry fewer titles, optimize more durable for velocity, and use extra automation to resolve which books get visibility. That isn’t private, it’s simply how these retailers work.

However authors don’t must compete with that system anymore. And that’s the message.
They will route round it.

Once you promote your Bookshop web page first, as a high-value product and expertise for followers, you create one thing a lot stronger than a single retail itemizing:

You create your publishing enterprise.

And that’s what we’re centered on at BookBaby as we head into 2026 providing you with the instruments, the distribution, and the infrastructure to construct one thing that lasts, irrespective of how the trade shifts.

Why we modified the print mannequin for 2026

We moved from huge retail print distribution to a BookBaby Bookshop + Amazon mannequin as a result of the info is unambiguous:

• Main retailers are more and more de-prioritizing unbiased books.
• The overwhelming majority of indie writer print gross sales occur in direct-to-reader storefronts and Amazon.
• Different retail and wholesale channels generate negligible income and are more and more extra selective within the printed books they’ll carry.
• They create unpredictable delays, there may be important returns danger, and are too giant to offer enough help.

This alteration is about optimizing what works for BookBaby authors and reducing out the friction.

What we not do

We not push printed books into:

• Barnes & Noble (eBooks will nonetheless be out there at B&N)
• Ingram catalogs
• Low-velocity retail networks

The info reveals these channels not often promote our indie POD books and are principally a dissatisfying distraction for our authors.

Authors ought to deal with the promoting on Bookshop and Amazon the place visitors extra reliably converts into gross sales. It’s dependable and worthwhile.

2026 goes to be an thrilling yr for self-publishing!

In 2026, there may be completely no motive an independently revealed e book ought to look, really feel, or carry out any in a different way than a e book launched by a conventional publishing home.

The instruments are right here.

The expertise is right here.

The gross sales channels are right here.

The know-how is right here.

At BookBaby, you could have entry to skilled modifying, award-winning cowl and inside design, world-class print manufacturing, world eBook distribution, skilled audiobook companies, and a direct-to-reader storefront that allows you to preserve extra of what you earn. That’s the similar core infrastructure the massive publishers use — with out the gatekeepers, delays, or lack of management.
You don’t want permission to publish a terrific e book anymore.

You want a accomplice who is aware of find out how to do it proper.

And that’s what we’ve been constructing for practically twenty years. We’ve seen and performed all of it. We all know how authors win.

In order we head into 2026, my message to each writer is easy:

You probably have a narrative to inform, a message to share, or a e book you’ve been ready to complete — that is your second. You may launch a e book that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with something popping out of New York. You may attain readers world wide. And you’ll construct an actual, sustainable publishing enterprise of your individual.

We will’t wait that will help you do it.

One other yr within the books — and the very best chapter remains to be forward.