Total net book sales in March in the U.S. rose 7.3%, to $978 million, compared to March 2024, representing sales of 1,325 publishers and distributed clients as reported to the Association of American Publishers. The jump in March sales was high enough to push year to date sales into positive territory for the first time in 2025; for the year to date, net book sales were up 1%, to $3.2 billion.

Trade revenues in March rose 4.4%, to $714.8 million, led by children's/YA hardcovers, up 18.8%, and adult hardcovers, which rose 13.2%.

In terms of format, trade hardcover revenues jumped 19.8%, to $270 million; paperbacks dropped 3.5%, to $249.3 million; mass market dropped 55.4%, to $3.5 million; and special bindings fell 24.6%, to $11.3 million. E-book sales in March rose 3.6%, to $86.7 million, and digital audio rose 7.7%, to $76.6 million.

Sales by category for March 2025:

Salman Rushdie (photo: Elena Ternovaja)

Hadi Matar, who was convicted of trying to stab Salman Rushdie to death in 2022, was sentenced to 25 years in prison last Friday for the attack that critically injured the author and left him blind in one eye. The New York Times reported that Judge David W. Foley, who presided over the case in Chautauqua County court, told Matar his assault had been against not only a man, but also the right to free expression.

"It goes to the very heart of what our country stands for," said the judge, adding that the sentence was necessary to prevent Matar from committing additional attacks, whether against Rushdie or someone else.

Matar had been found guilty in February of trying to kill Rushdie as the author was preparing to give a talk at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, N.Y. The trial, which was held in Mayville, N.Y., lasted less than two weeks and jurors deliberated for under two hours before returning their verdict, the Times noted.

Mermaid Books will open in a limited capacity in Milford, Conn., later this month, prior to a mid-June grand opening, the Register Citizen reported.

Kristin Mascia, owner of Mermaid Books.

Located at 22 Broad St. #9, the bookstore spans about 700 square feet and will sell general-interest titles for all ages. The inventory will consist primarily of new titles, with a small collection of gently used books available. Additionally, the store will carry a variety of bookish gifts and toys. Event plans include book clubs, author signings, and writing workshops.

Owner Kristin Mascia, who has a background as a journalist and editor, moved to Milford in 2021. She felt the downtown needed a new bookstore, and chose to open one herself.

"We're trying to create a space for not just families, but for everyone to come and be delighted by the things they see on the shelves, and have a place to hang out," Mascia told the Register Citizen.

B Boutique, located at 2651 SE Ocean Blvd. in Stuart, Fla., has been put up for sale by co-owners Tony and Juliette Gonzalez, who opened the bookstore in 2023. In a social media post, they wrote, "Have you ever dreamed of owning your own bookstore? Imagine spending your days surrounded by stories, conversations, and the unique magic only a bookstore can provide... this is your chance to step right into your dream life.

"Over the past two years, we've built something truly special: a cozy bookstore bursting with local charm, hosting popular author signings, and offering a carefully curated collection of new, used, and collectible books. Our beloved community book club, grown from scratch to 15 passionate members, makes our store an essential gathering place for book lovers."

The co-owners described growth possibilities for the store that include expanding into online sales, adding a café, or increasing inventory with the extra space available. The business includes a complete inventory, POS and computer systems, a website, and a mailing list of more than 250 book enthusiasts.

"Owning B Boutique has truly been a joy; connecting every day with fellow literature lovers has enriched our lives in countless ways," the owners said. "We have made the difficult decision to sell because we're planning our future family home and simply can't give the store the attention and investment it deserves. This isn't just buying a bookstore--it's stepping into a vibrant literary community and making a meaningful difference every day.

For more information, contact 772-202-2221.

Book No Further in Roanoke, Va., will close its physical storefront and transition to an online-only bookstore.

In a message to customers announcing the decision, co-owner Doris Vest noted that she had hoped to find a new owner for the bookstore, but those efforts were unsuccessful. As a result, the bookstore is running an inventory sell-down through May 31 and, beginning June 1, Book No Further will sell new books online.

Throughout the month of June, the physical store will be open select hours so that customers can pick up special orders and preordered titles. Going forward, Vest plans to provide off-site book sales upon request and work with businesses and other organizations for bulk orders.

Vest, who founded the bookstore with her husband in 2017, told 10News that the decision was "bittersweet because it is kind of our baby. Every independent bookstore takes on the flavor of its owner, and this one certainly has."

"We love the smell of books in the morning." Neighborly Books, Maryville, Tenn., shared a video on Instagram, noting: "There's just something about the smell of fresh books in the morning! Those crisp pages, satiny covers and delicious stories inside. Come take a deep breath at Neighborly Books!"

Inkwell Books & Threads, Rockton, Ill., shared a photo on Instagram of the shop's latest sidewalk chalkboard message: "Indie bookstores provide local jobs, keep money in communities, give personal recommendations, and friendly service. I mean you can shop at Am*zon... but that's none of our business."

At Scribner:

Elisabeth Calamari will join Scribner as senior director of publicity on June 2.

Paul Samuelson has been promoted to senior director of publicity.

Clare Maurer has been promoted to associate director of publicity.

Ellie Crowley has been promoted to associate publicist.

Tomorrow:
The View: Brian Kelly, author of How to Win at Travel (Avid Reader Press, $30, 9781668068656).

Sherri Shepherd Show: JJ Johnson, co-author of The Simple Art of Rice: Recipes from Around the World for the Heart of Your Table (Flatiron, $34.99, 9781250809100).

Laurie Kynaston (Fool Me Once, The Sandman), Jamie-Lee O'Donnell (Derry Girls, Screw), and Alex Lawther (The End of the F***ing World, Alien: Earth) will star in Leonard and Hungry Paul, based on the novel by Rónán Hession. Deadline reported that filming has begun in Dublin on a six-part series and will continue through this month. 

Richie Conroy and Mark Hodkinson adapting the book, with Andrew Chaplin (Alma's Not Normal, Smoggie Queens) directing. Irish indie Subotica is producing for BBC Northern Ireland in association with BBC Comedy, Screen Ireland and RTÉ, with Avalon co-producing and distributing internationally. 

"I am delighted to see Leonard and Hungry Paul being adapted for the screen," said Hession. "It's a real privilege as a writer to see my work being brought to life in a different creative form."

Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi (And Other Stories/Consortium) has won the 2025 International Booker Prize, which honors "the best works of long-form fiction or collections of short stories translated into English and published in the U.K. and/or Ireland." The £50,000 (about $67,000) prize money is divided equally between authors and translators. Heart Lamp is the first collection of short stories to win the prize and is the first winner originally written in Kannada, one of the languages of India.

Organizers wrote: "In 12 stories, Banu Mushtaq exquisitely captures the everyday lives of women and girls in Muslim communities in southern India. Published originally in the Kannada language between 1990 and 2023, praised for their dry and gentle humour, these portraits of family and community tensions testify to Mushtaq's years as a journalist and lawyer, in which she tirelessly championed women's rights and protested all forms of caste and religious oppression.

"Written in a style at once witty, vivid, colloquial, moving and excoriating, it's in her characters--the sparky children, the audacious grandmothers, the buffoonish maulvis and thug brothers, the oft-hapless husbands, and the mothers above all, surviving their feelings at great cost--that Mushtaq emerges as an astonishing writer and observer of human nature, building disconcerting emotional heights out of a rich spoken style. Her opus has garnered both censure from conservative quarters as well as India's most prestigious literary awards; this is a collection sure to be read for years to come."

photo: Savannah Lauren

Andrea Bartz is a journalist and the author of the Reese's Book Club pick We Were Never Here, The Spare Room, The Lost Night, and The Herd. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Marie Claire, Vogue, and many other outlets. She's held editorial positions at Glamour, Psychology Today, and Self, among other publications. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., and the Hudson Valley. Her new novel, The Last Ferry Out (Ballantine, May 20, 2025) is a thriller in which a woman begins to suspect that the death of her fiancée was no accident, leading her on quest for truth that unearths dark secrets, shady pasts, and a web of lies.

Handsell readers your book in about 25 words:

The Last Ferry Out follows a woman investigating her fiancée's "accidental" death on a tiny Mexican island. Enigmatic expats, tight-lipped locals, creepy ruins... all the good stuff! 

On your nightstand now:

I can't put down Coram House by Bailey Seybolt, a haunting thriller about a true crime writer investigating a crumbling orphanage's deadly history. It's so atmospheric and spooky!

Favorite book when you were a child:

Unsurprisingly, I loved dark books even as a child. Lois Duncan was a favorite, especially Stranger with My Face and Killing Mr. Griffin. I also voraciously read every library copy of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps and Fear Street series. Yep, I was kind of a weird kid.

Your top five authors:

An impossible question, of course, but I'll go with Donna Tartt, Gillian Flynn, Marisha Pessl, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Liane Moriarty.

Book you've faked reading:

There was a long period in the late aughts when I was dating annoying hipster dudes. More than once, I lied and said I'd already read David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest simply to bypass the "Oh my God you HAVE to" discussion. Now I can confidently admit I will never, ever read it. (I'm sure it's great! Don't @ me.)

Book you're an evangelist for:

Hot Springs Drive by Lindsay Hunter--it's this dark and devastating literary thriller about two mom friends who essentially destroy each other. The prose is achingly beautiful, with this lucid, tender encapsulation of tiny truths about the human experience. I couldn't shut up about it!

Book you've bought for the cover:

The scorching hot purple and red cover of Lisa Ko's The Leavers caught my eye the last time I was at a bookstore, and I had to take it home. I'm happy to report the inside is every bit as vivid and urgent.

Book you hid from your parents:

Nothing's coming to mind, and I think that's because my mother, herself a voracious reader, was very much of the "read whatever you want" school of thought. My sister and I attended a small conservative Christian school from kindergarten through eighth grade, and my mom volunteered at the library there. Whenever parents or teachers requested that they take books off the shelves because of their un-Christian-like themes (Harry Potter, for example, promoted "witchcraft"), my mom would take home the outlawed titles and put them on our shelves. We had our own banned book library!

Book that changed your life:

I'll never forget the experience of reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath for the first time. I'd just finished college and, like the protagonist, I was working in women's magazines. I loved my job but felt like nobody took it--or 22-year-old me--seriously. Something about the beautiful, empathetic writing and its treatment of "women's issues" made me realize our lives are just as real and worthy of literary discussion as men's problems and concerns.

Favorite line from a book:

The first page of Claire Messud's The Woman Upstairs is one of the best openings in history. It begins: "How angry am I? You don't want to know. Nobody wants to know."

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

I first read The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides in one breathless gulp; I still remember marveling over its spare and perfect writing, those haunting descriptions and fascinating images and the kind of chewy prose that made my chest ache. I reread it every couple of years, but nothing can match that first head-first immersion into the Lisbon sisters' world.

Book that made you want to write thrillers:

I read the entirety of Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series in one go, and by the time I finished the last one, I knew I wanted to write mysteries. They were an unputdownable combination of lovely writing, complex character work, and puzzle-box whodunit that I just had to try for myself!

In the breathtaking Island Storm, Caldecott Medalist Brian Floca (Locomotive; Hawk Rising) and Hans Christian Andersen Award winner Sydney Smith (I Talk Like a River; My Baba's Garden; Small in the City) tell the story of two siblings on an island who head to the shore to see a storm agitate the sea: "We feel the wind blowing, we feel the wind growing."

When they arrive, they take in the massive, billowing waves. A repeated refrain in the book underscores their adventurous spirit: "And then we ask, is this enough, or do we try for more? You pull on me, I pull on you, and we decide to go on." As the storm intensifies and follows them back home across the island, the children flirt with danger. They take in their surroundings, now "eerie and empty." When a loud "BOOM!" breaks the silence, they "RUN!" through the rain, scared of losing their way in "shadows too deep for the day." An adult, likely their parent, greets them: "Home to relief, and to love." But also "to trouble, too!" Though they are met with a tight hug, there's an unspoken acknowledgment of the risks they took. The storm subsides, and "night gives way to dawn."

On one level, this is a simple adventure tale: two children outrun a storm. But it's one that holds many layers of meaning. This brush with danger is a test of resilience--perhaps the kind of resilience the siblings have had to summon before--and captures the unwavering bond between them. The repeated refrain reminds readers they navigate challenges together.

Floca fills the text with sensory details: "We take the gravel road that leads down to the cove, a crunch with every step." His writing is imbued with a gentle rhythm, internal rhymes, and alliteration. It's a text that begs to be read aloud: "We stand on stones that lie like great bones, weathered and worn by water and time...."

Illustrator Sydney Smith captures the storm's kinetic energy--its force and beauty--as if the waves themselves are moving across the pages. He builds tension through a striking watercolor and gouache palette: massive dark clouds loom over the island, later juxtaposed with clear blue skies as the storm recedes. Double-page spreads feature horizontal illustrative vignettes with text between the images, accelerating the action and emphasizing the children's movement across the island and their urgent return home.

A masterful blend of poetic language and dynamic illustration, this story delivers both an edge-of-your-seat adventure and a moving meditation on perseverance and the storms siblings weather together. --Julie Danielson

Shelf Talker: With its rhythmic prose and stunning illustrations, this story of two siblings braving a storm is an exhilarating adventure that beautifully explores the quiet power of perseverance.