Impact of AI from Major Publishers

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."