Professional E-Book Publishing: Five-Year Market Trends and Outlook

In Simba Information’s annual report Professional & Scholarly E-Book Publishing series, what began as a fast-digitizing sector now reveals a deeper, more measured evolution. Growth has slowed. Market share among major players has stabilized. Beneath this plateau is a more significant story: a strategic reordering of how value is created and delivered in professional publishing. 

From Expansion to Optimization 

The era of mass digitization sparked a wave of experimentation. What followed was a quieter recalibration that redefined how professional content is accessed, applied, and archived. 

In 2017, Simba reported global e-book market growth of 5.6% year-over-year. This growth reflected the momentum of early digital adoption. By 2021, that momentum had slowed, with the annual growth rate declining to 1.6%. By 2024, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) hovered near 0.8%. At first glance, this might suggest the market had plateaued. 

The shift reflects recalibration, not retreat: 

• Volume is shrinking while utility is growing. 

• Subscription models are becoming more dominant. 

• The medical segment is emerging as a hub for innovation, particularly in education and AI integration. 

• Print continues to serve specific use cases, particularly in academic and humanities contexts where digital adoption remains lower. 

Strategic Repositioning in a Mature Market 

The slowdown in growth does not reflect a failure of digital transformation. Instead, it signals a market that has matured beyond early-stage digitization. 

In earlier editions of the report, growth was often driven by the digitization of large backlists. Publishers partnered with aggregators and addressed demand from cost-conscious institutions. By 2020, much of that initial groundwork had been completed. 

Today, gains are more strategic: 

• AI is no longer peripheral. Publishers are embedding artificial intelligence to support knowledge retrieval, legal research, and diagnostic workflows. Tools such as Lexis+ AI, ClinicalKey, and Knovel are becoming essential components of professional platforms. 

• Geographic growth is shifting. While North America remains the largest market, regions like Asia-Pacific and the Middle East/Africa are increasingly important. Localization and cross-language delivery are central to these expansions. 

• Monographs are being redesigned. In the social sciences and humanities (SSH), longform content is being restructured into modular formats and enriched databases to align with modern research workflows. 

Implications for Market Stakeholders 

Professional and scholarly e-book publishing is now centered on infrastructure strategy rather than format transitions. Simba’s longitudinal research highlights a clear shift from expansion to refinement. 

Key patterns from five editions of the report (2018, 2020, 2022, 2024, 2025) include: 

• Specialization as survival strategy: Generalist publishers are exiting or consolidating. Success increasingly depends on tight alignment between content and end-user need. 

• E-Books as infrastructure: No longer discrete products, e-books are now integrated into academic, research, and professional ecosystems. 

• Invisible innovation: Developments are not always visible at the product level. Improvements in metadata, discoverability, analytics, and integration define success. 

The professional e-book market has not stagnated. It has sharpened its focus. 

Market Trends in E-Book Publishing, 2018–2025 

This table summarizes key longitudinal indicators from Simba’s research, reflecting how the market has shifted toward strategic depth. Title output figures are internal estimates informed by trend analysis: 

These figures support Simba’s findings that content volume is no longer the leading indicator of progress. Instead, success in this evolving landscape is increasingly defined by integration, relevance, and resilience. 

Forward-Looking Intelligence for Strategic Planning 

The latest edition of Professional & Scholarly E-Book Publishing 2025–2029 provides a comprehensive analysis of publisher strategies, market dynamics, segment-level trends, and global performance forecasts. 

As institutions re-evaluate content strategy and respond to demand for AI-supported, workflow-integrated content, this report offers foundational insight for those navigating a complex publishing landscape. 

Visit the Simba Information site to learn more or request access to the full report. 

About the blogger: Martha Scharping is the Education Analyst and Writer for Simba Information, the leading authority of strategic intelligence for EdTech companies and other producers of instructional materials for K-12 and higher education. Simba also provides insights into the legal, medical, and scientific professional publishing sectors.