How 2025's "Hottest Publishing Trend" Proves Professional Publishers Are Gaining Ground
Why is The New York Times calling deluxe editions the hottest trend in publishing?
Both mainstream and industry news closed out last year with reports on the uptick in traditional publishers aiming to publish "deluxe editions," predicting an exponential increase in 2025. Some publishers are even going so far as to print a majority of deluxe editions during initial print runs, something pretty much unheard of until recently.
Why is this something traditional publishers are committing to?
Spoiler alert: I suspect it has a lot to do with the predicted continued success of the professional publishing industry in the coming year.
What Are Deluxe Editions?
If you've ever wandered through the Classics section of a Barnes & Noble, you've seen a "deluxe edition" of a beloved book. Larger trim sizes, embossed covers or spot glossed dust jackets, patterned endpapers, sprayed edges, sewn in bookmarks, etc. are all options when printing a deluxe edition. They look gorgeous on your bookshelf and are visually and texturally a delight to pick up (if a bit unwieldy to actually read).
Deluxe editions are usually given a limited print run, as a way to market a newly published book, capitalize off a promotional tie in to a film or TV adaptation, or drum up new or recurring buyers for a previously published bestseller or beloved author.
More recently, the "romantasy" (romance + fantasy) genre has begun using deluxe editions to fuel social media buzz on #BookTok, where avid readers scramble to jump on the latest trend. Sarah J. Maas has had at least three different editions of her ongoing ACOTAR series released in 2023 alone.
How Will 2025 Be Different?
According to Michael Cader's Publisher's Lunch report from last week:
Penguin Random House says it plans at least 50 books with decorated edges in 2025, twice as many as they produced in 2024. William Morrow expects to print over 35 deluxe editions, up from 13; and Tor plans at least 45 special productions, up from 21.
Speaking of romantasy, Entangled Publishing says it will be printing two million deluxe edition copies of Rebecca Yarros's latest book, compared with only 500,000 standard copies. Beyond simply being a massive print run, this best practice-breaking prioritization of deluxe over standard editions is a statement about the investment in this trend.
Why Is This Trend Noteworthy?
There are a few reasons why it's worth paying attention to this deluxe edition trend, especially because I believe it constitutes a "show of hand," so to speak, when it comes to how traditional publishing views its baby sibling, professional publishing.
Reason 1: Deluxe Editions Are More Expensive To Produce
One of the main reasons deluxe editions have been limited in the past (literally "limited editions") is that they are more expensive to produce, print, warehouse, and distribute than standard editions. Here are some of the factors a publisher might consider when writing a deluxe edition print run into the P&L:
Not to mention that deluxe edition print runs are not printed on demand (POD). This means resources need to be invested up front rather than piecemeal after someone purchases a book, decreasing financial predictability. From a pure business standpoint, it's clear why deluxe editions have been a promotional splurge rather than business-as-usual.
Reason 2: Deluxe Editions Don't Have As Large An Audience
Combined with the increase in P&D expenses, traditional publishers admit that even in the face of this new "hottest trend," the audience for deluxe editions is limited. Both NY Times and Publisher's Lunch quote Penguin Random House's deputy chief revenue officer, Jeff Weber, as he admits:
In consumer surveys, Penguin Random House found that most readers have little interest in deluxe editions. For the most part, you’re appealing to the already converted.
As I mentioned above, deluxe editions are often priced far higher than other formats to make up for the expenses incurred by their production. This price tempers impulse purchases, which publishers rely on to sell a meaningful number of books. For many genres, impulse purchases make up as much as half of total book sales.
For example, a reader can purchase Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses as a standard paperback book for just over $10 on Amazon. Compare that to the $40 that Barnes & Noble is charging for the collector's edition of the same book. That's a 400% increase, pricing out everyone but the most avid fans (and those #BookTokkers who can write it off as a business expense on their taxes).
Reason 3: Traditional Publishers Don't Change Best Practices Lightly
Traditional publishing is an entrenched industry. I've talked about its traditionalist mindset in previous articles. And while we are seeing an increase in willingness to innovate and adopt new technologies more recently, it is still a good idea to pay attention when a hundred-year-old behemoth decides to shake itself off and move to new hunting grounds. Especially if that decision cannot be easily justified by pointing to obvious cut costs or growth in marketshare.
What could be motivating the traditional publishing industry to break an age-old best practice to create a more expensive product that, by their own admission, fewer people will purchase? It seems almost like a panic move, a desperate attempt to distinguish itself from an increasingly viable competitor...
Where Does Professional Publishing Come In?
I cannot help but wonder if this "hot new trend" in traditional publishing is primarily a way to recapture the attention of a public who has become increasingly enamored with professional publishing in recent years. In 2023-2024, we saw the rise of a plethora of independent publishing startups adopting a hybrid or professional model, effectively removing many barriers to publishing for prospective authors and finding new, exciting, and highly effective ways to bring books to market.
Professional publishing has gone from a last resort to a preferred option. Try Googling "how to publish my book" and see what comes up. Literary agents and traditional publishers' submission guidelines, or third-party book publishing services boasting 100% royalties and global distribution?
In this environment, it is no wonder that traditional publishing needs to find ways to distinguish itself (even as it adopts its competitor's operational tactics--for better or worse--such as outsourcing a majority of creative work to freelancers and utilizing cutting-edge technology like AI). From a purely technical standpoint, deluxe editions are an obvious way to do this.
One area where hybrid and professional publishers (and frankly even independent traditional presses) are hamstrung is printing and distribution. They rely primarily on third-party P&D platforms like KDP and IngramSpark, which offer affordable but simplistic POD options that limit their choices around cover finish, page weight, trim size, etc. These options also limit where professional publishers can profitably distribute their backlist: You are much more likely to find a professionally published book hosted exclusively on a free Amazon page than shimmering from a window display at your local brick-and-mortar.
It is possible for professional publishers to produce a deluxe edition, but it requires an entirely separate P&D process that is prohibitive in scope, including finding and hiring small offset printers, creating direct sales funnels, and managing the logistics of warehousing and physical distribution in house. Operationally and financially, this leaves deluxe editions out of reach for the average professionally published book.
Traditional publishers, especially those larger conglomerates and their plethora of imprints, usually "own the means of production," so to speak, in that they don't need to outsource the P&D process to third parties. They can create deluxe editions at cost and at scale. As discussed above, it is still a pricey decision to make, but it is a lot more attainable.
This is a flex, not just to readers who crave novelty and pretty things, but also to potential authors who might be debating the whole "hurry up and wait" rigamarole of getting traditionally published. Sure, you may have to shop your manuscript around for years before getting a contract. You may need to wait 18-months to see your book on shelves and then only reap 10% of the royalties. But look at how shiny!
How Can Professional Publishers Meet This Challenge in 2025?
I've written at length about how professional publishers need to diversify their P&D channels for a number of increasingly urgent reasons. Continuing to rely on third-party platforms' effective monopolies in the book printing and distribution space is negatively impacting the growth potential of this sub-industry.
Yes, the cost of building in-house (or even white labeled) printing, distribution, and sales channels is prohibitive for the majority of startups, at least for the first few years. For those with the liquidity to pursue growth, it would require investing overhead in the boring meat-and-potatoes of operational logistics, not in glamorous extracurricular marketing opportunities like podcast launches, social media management, or brand development. But it would mean addressing professional publishing's greatest weakness and continuing to close the gap between what it and traditional publishing can offer.
If you are a professional publisher planning for 2025 and beyond, my challenge to you would be to find ways to diversify how you are producing and distributing your books. Check out the work being done over at WorkingLit to get inspired and maybe forge some alliances.
The glove has been thrown down. You can decide to pick it up or not. Apparently, traditional publishing is praying you don't.