Early this month, I attended the U.S. Book Show in New York, where more than 700 publishing professionals came together to talk about the future of the book industry. It was my first time attending – and I’ll definitely be back! The sessions covered everything from AI and audience data to retail trends and changing reader habits, but there was one theme that seemed to pop up in a lot of conversations: discoverability. The challenge isn’t creating books—it’s helping the people most likely to love them actually find them. Here are my four main takeaways, and how AdBiblio fits into the mix.
AI Is Changing Discovery
From the CEOs of Hachette and Sourcebooks to experts focused on AI search, one thing was made clear: AI is changing how readers find books. More and more people are turning to tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Amazon’s Rufus for recommendations instead of relying solely on Google or browsing online bookstores. The takeaway wasn’t that AI is replacing publishing—it was that it’s becoming a powerful new way for readers to discover books they might never have found otherwise. We’re spending a lot of time learning how AI-powered discovery works, testing new ideas, and staying on top of emerging best practices so we can help our publishing partners navigate what’s next.
Video is Essential
One point that came up repeatedly was the growing importance of video. As AI tools continue to prioritize video content, having a video for your book is becoming increasingly essential. Several speakers predicted that in the near future, every book will need some kind of video presence on retailer pages, publisher websites, and social media platforms. And this feels like the perfect time for a shameless reminder: every custom AdBiblio campaign can include a free video! You’re welcome to use it wherever you’d like!
Data Alone Isn’t Enough
By far the most crowded panel I experienced was The Data-Driven Publisher: Turning Insights into Hits. Publishers have access to more reader, sales, retail, and social data than ever before, but the real challenge is figuring out what it all actually means. Knowing what sold is helpful, but understanding why readers bought it—and who else might be likely to buy next—is what puts publishers at a big advantage.
We help turn audience signals into actionable insights that publishers can use to find and reach the readers most likely to connect with a book. Every proposal we create gets our full attention, strategy, and reader knowledge behind it. And because we’re constantly running campaigns across so many genres and audiences, we bring a level of proprietary insight (and cookies) to every campaign. Think of us less like an outside vendor and more like an extra member of your team.
Communities Drive Discovery
The future of discoverability isn’t just about algorithms—it’s about communities. Readers are finding books through BookTok creators, Reddit threads, newsletters, podcasts, fandom spaces, and online groups they trust. One of the things we love doing at AdBiblio is helping publishers uncover those communities. Whether it’s identifying the influencers, podcasts, TV shows, and online fandoms where niche readers are already gathering, or focusing on keyword and contextual strategies, our goal is to help you find readers based on who they are instead of hoping they’ll just stumble across your book.
Whether it’s AI, audience data, or whatever targeting strategy comes next, the publishing landscape never sits still for long. But helping niche books find readers has always been our thing, and we plan to keep it that way. We’ll keep paying attention and staying ahead of the trends so we can continue helping publishers the best way we can. Until next year!
