Publishers Association figures: fiction and audiobooks drove growth in 2024
Publishers Association figures put UK publishing income at £7.2bn in 2024, with fiction passing £1bn and audiobook revenue up 31%.
The Publishers Association published its figures for 2024 on 18 June 2025. It reported total UK publishing income of £7.2 billion, up 1%, with exports worth £4.5 billion, up 3%.
Consumer publishing brought in £2.5 billion, up 5%. Within that, print revenue was £2 billion, up 2%, and digital revenue £566 million, up 17%. Fiction rose 18% to £1.1 billion, passing £1 billion for the first time according to the association, while non-fiction fell 4% to £1.1 billion and children's books were flat at £413 million.
Audiobook revenue reached £268 million, up 31% on 2023 and the highest the association has recorded. Education publishing fell 3% to £639 million and academic publishing fell 1% to £3.5 billion, although digital revenue grew in all three sectors.
Why it matters: the figures show a market growing slowly overall but shifting within itself, towards fiction and towards audio. For authors and small publishers, audio rights and audio editions look increasingly worth attention, and print still accounts for most consumer revenue.
Sources: Publishers Association: Audiobooks and fiction drove growth in 2024; Publishing Perspectives: UK Publishers Association, 2024 audiobook revenue up 31 percent.