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AI, collectible editions and reading for pleasure dominate 2025 book trade predictions
Artificial Intelligence (AI), collectible editions and prioritising children’s reading for pleasure were the dominant themes for predictions across the trade for 2025.
Executives, organisations and other trade experts from across the book industry spoke to The Bookseller to give their thoughts for the year ahead.
David Shelley, CEO of Hachette UK and Hachette Book Group, told The Bookseller: “In 2025, I think we’ll see a continuation of trends that have been building for the past few years. One of these is consumer desire for collectible editions (sprayed edges, exclusive covers, extra material). Another is a continued – and, to my mind, welcome – blurring of industry fiction genre categorisations. I think there will be more bestsellers that are neither thriller nor romance, nor fantasy nor literary, but contain elements of all.”
AI was mentioned by almost all the respondents, with Paul Kelly, CEO of DK, saying: “AI remains a transformative force, offering opportunities to enhance discoverability, streamline workflows and better connect books with audiences. However, publishers must keep authors’, illustrators’ and photographers’ interests at the forefront, balancing innovation with ethics to ensure the industry’s long-term health.”
This was a sentiment echoed by Charlie Redmayne, CEO of HarperCollins, who said: "The use of AI in our industry is evolving rapidly and we will continue to experiment and innovate. Our aim is always to reach the widest possible audience for our authors’ work and to ensure appropriate remuneration for it. New channels and new tech with effective protections and an open mind help us achieve this, as we have seen with Spotify, which is bringing new listeners to audiobooks and delivering revenue for our authors and the business.
"Similarly, the BookTok effect and fan desire for beautiful special editions continues to drive sales and innovation. Our Locked Library is going great guns and we have expanded the concept globally with the introduction of Forbidden Wing. Just over a year ago the HarperCollins TikTok shop opened, the first of its type, and this year we saw impressive revenue growth and were the only books merchant to be recognised at the TikTok Shop awards – I suspect we won’t be alone for long."
Many cited the government’s consultation on the issue. Claire Wilson, chair of the Authors’ Agents Associations and RCW agent, said: “At the AAA, we look ahead to another year of crucial discussions around the enforcement of copyright law in the field of generative AI. The opening of a government consultation on this issue is welcome, and we encourage authors and agents to engage with the conversation; we will continue to support and advise our membership on how best to do so.”
Peter Philips, CEO of Cambridge University Press and Assessments, said: “Regulators, publishers, tech companies, authors and lawyers will spend much of the year grappling even more with generative AI, especially as the UK government consults on a legal framework for AI and copyright.
“Scholarly research and high-quality non-fiction are profoundly valuable – even more so as large language models (LLMs) seek out exactly this type of content, having already taken much from the open web.
“In this context, it is vital that legal frameworks give real priority to transparency for authors and readers, control for rights holders, and lawful access for AI developers.”
Redmayne of HarperCollins also spoke of the "dispiriting" reading habits of children, and how the publisher will be making reading for pleasure a priority in 2025. He added: "We will be building on Farshore’s 12 years of research and making reading for pleasure a real focus for the UK business in 2025. We will be working to help families, teachers and others instil a love of reading to improve children’s wellbeing and life chances and will share our plans for ‘A Year of Reading for Pleasure’ shortly."
