If you’ve ever dreamed of writing a book, I have both encouraging and sobering news for you. The encouraging part? The barriers to entry have never been lower. For around $100, anyone can take a manuscript, format it, and distribute it worldwide . The sobering part? That same ease of entry has created a firehose of competition—2.5 million books are now published annually in the U.S. alone, equivalent to the entire 20th century’s output
However, the U.S. book market is substantial. In 2023, an estimated 900 million to over 1 billion print books were sold, demonstrating that people are still buying books in large numbers . Globally, the book publishing market was valued at approximately $83.2 billion in 2025