The 2026 report is the second edition of the “Al use across the North American book industry” study. While it remains true that AI adoption across the book industry varies by organization size and type, there are a couple of clear trends that show through.
First, AI usage is increasing quickly: “In 2026, 63% of respondents said their organization is using AI. This is a 32% increase from 2025.” Second, that usage is largely focused on making publishing workflows and workloads more efficient. In other words, it‘s not so much that AI is transforming the book industry as we know it. Rather, it is becoming part of its infrastructure.
This year‘s survey found that when it comes to book publishers in particular, administrative tasks and marketing were the most commonly reported uses of AI. The study report adds, “The top areas where organizations and individuals are using AI are administrative tasks, marketing, data analysis, metadata and title optimization, and research. This suggests that AI is being used primarily to streamline routine, information-intensive tasks.”
Interestingly, the survey also found that among those book organizations not already using AI, more than half (55%) said they are not planning to use AI at all. Given the time saving potential of AI, and also the pressure on operating margins across the industry, that is a finding that jumps out in particular.