On Monday 6th January 2025, the Easypress team shared their initial publishing predictions for the year ahead. Ten months on, we look back at our forecast blog and examine the changes that have taken place within the industry.
As anticipated, the legal enforcement of the European Accessibility Act on 28th June 2025 marked a significant shift towards the creation of compliant digital material. And although a fully compliant industry is still a long way off, publishers are actively seeking solutions to improve their current and future workflows. With no clear compliance criteria, challenges remain. For many large publishers, it is more viable to budget for non-compliance fines on backlist titles than to implement the required changes for accessibility now – a reality that almost certainly will need to be addressed in 2026.
As predicted, AI remained controversial throughout 2025. While the UK and EU have begun drafting legislation aimed at clarifying ownership of AI-assisted work, enforcement remains difficult, fuelling tension within the industry. Whether creators, platforms or AI developers own AI-generated content is hotly contested. Moreover, a growing number of lawsuits have been filed against tech companies for training their Large Language Models on copyrighted texts without consent. In 2025, a federal judge ruled The New York Times and other newspapers could proceed with a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft for using their articles to train AI chatbots.
With the enforcement of the European Accessibility Act (EAA) in 2025, there has been a surge in demand for AI-generated alt-text. Similarly, there has also been an increase in AI-generated translations and text-to-speech narrations, which, as previously thought, remain far from perfect.
The continued surge of online book communities and social media reading trends has undoubtedly shaped the publishing industry, and this has remained true in 2025, as expected. Throughout the year, #BookTok has accumulated over 370 billion views with more than 52 million users jumping on board – skyrocketing bestsellers, reviving backlist titles and informing reading habits worldwide – Forbes.
As the industry enters its final quarter of the year, streaming and subscription services remain a popular alternative to traditional book sales. During 2025, we have seen book subscription services not just selling books but also beginning to publish their own. For example, in January 2025 FairyLoot, a well-known industry subscription service, announced a collaboration with Transworld, a division of Penguin Random House – The Guardian.
Although 2025 has seen no further changes to PAYE, the UK Employer NIC Tax had previously risen from 13.8% to 15% with a lower secondary threshold of £5,000.00, leading to higher payroll expenses. The impact of rising staff costs on large publishers has been significant.
With pressure to produce more with the same or fewer resources, 2025 has proved a challenging financial landscape for publishers.
In 2025, publishers have continued to face pressure to increase productivity without additional resources. Increasing supply chain and production costs are still narrowing profit margins, forcing many publishers towards digital-first content.
The need to increase publishing productivity is also fuelling a demand for largely automated print and digital production systems. Many in the industry desire no-touch solutions, where possible, for their trade fiction books.
Book bans have been a hot industry topic throughout 2025. This year alone, 112 proposed state bills in the United States have sought to expand the definition of ‘harmful to minors’, requiring more books to be removed from library shelves – The Guardian.
In September 2025, Afghanistan saw widespread bans on works by female authors from universities, whereby at least 679 titles were blacklisted, including texts on human rights, women’s rights and Western political thought – Aljazeera.
The percentage of children and young people that read for pleasure is at an all-time low. In 2025, just 1 in 3 children and young people aged 8 to 18 said that they enjoyed reading in their free time, marking a 36% decrease in reading enjoyment levels over the last 20 years – National Literacy Trust.
An important way to address the reading gap in under 18s is to understand what drives or deters reading. For example, in 2025, 3 in 10 children and young people were drawn in by an interesting book cover or title – National Literacy Trust. For publishers, these are vital statistics that can be used to inform decisions at the very start of the production process to encourage a boost in reading, and therefore book sales.
Fiction’s popularity has soared in 2025, with the romantasy subgenre proving a catalyst for increased sales. At the same time, new trends have emerged, such as ‘weird-girl’ fiction, which has gained traction as readers look for fresh experiences. On platforms like TikTok, where bestsellers often follow familiar themes and story arcs, these novels stand out by twisting, reversing or throwing out these tropes altogether.
The success of adaptations has drawn new audiences to genre fiction, signalling opportunities for publishers to develop series, cross-media collaborations, and franchises. For example, 2025 saw Netflix produce The Thursday Murder Club film, based on Richard Osman’s bestselling debut.
Throughout the remainder of 2025 and beyond, publishers will face the challenge of adapting to new technologies and market dynamics. Whether utilising the benefits of AI, embracing accessibility, or bridging the gap in reading for pleasure among children and young people, 2026 is certain to be a crucial year for the publishing industry!
Easypress is a publishing production software and services company based in the UK, delivering award-winning technology globally for over 20 years.
If you would like to learn more about the production services and publishing software Easypress provides for clients, please contact us.
Alternatively, you can schedule an online meeting for a time to suit you via our Calendly page.
Try our print and digital publishing platform for free today.
Contact us and we will provide the best solution to suit your digital publishing needs.
Get all the latest blogs straight to your inbox!
