Book Publishing Stats

Book Industry Gross Revenue

·                     $27.9 Billion for 2010

·                     $27.1B for 2009

·                     $26.5B for 2008

·                     Year-to-year growth from 2008-2009 was 2.5%

·                     Year-to-year growth from 2009-2010 was 3.1%

·                     Two-year overall growth (2008-2010) was 5.6%

 

Size Of U.S. Publishing Industry In Publisher Net Unit Sales

·                     2.57 Billion in 2010

·                     2.514B in 2009

·                     2.474B in 2008

Number Of Publishers

The book publishing industry in the United States is comprised of about 2,600 book publishers that have sales of $100K or more. Of these 1,100 have revenue of $500K or more.

 

Revenue If Those Publishers

·                     Greater than$500M: 10 publishing companies

·                     $100M to $500M: 20

·                     $25M to $100M: 70

·                     $5M to $25M: 200

·                     $0.5M to $5M: 800

·                     $0.1M to $0.5M: 1500

Number Of Publishers, By Year

1947:         357 publishers

1973:     3,000 publishers

1980:   12,000 publishers. 

1994:   52,847 publishers. 

2004:   85,000 publishers

2011:   ??????

The Big Six Publishers

1.      Random House, Inc.

2.      Penguin Putnam Inc.

3.      HarperCollins

4.      Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings

5.      Time Warner

6.      Simon & Schuster

BEA Attendance

1996: 37,464

2005: 22,366

What Are Consumers Buying?

55 percent of al book purchases a decade ago were for fiction.

What Is Being Published?

The number of printed titles from traditional publishers increased by five percent in 2010, to 316, 480. But the non-traditional sector boomed by 169 percent, to 2.77 million titles published in 2010. These books, marketed almost exclusively online, are mainly self-published books and on-demand titles that are published by print houses specializing in public domain works.

Sources: Association of American Publishers, Book Industry Study Group, PW Daily and R.R. Bowker Books in Print

Interview With NYT Best-Selling Author Lauren Oliver

Planned Television Arts recently promoted Lauren Oliver’s book, Before I Fall, for a radio tour. Her publisher, is Harper Collins. Here is an interview with her:

1. Lauren, what does it feel like to be a NYT best-selling author? Oh! Well, I mean, of course it feels incredible. Also very surreal. It still makes me squirm to go into bookstores and see my books on display!

2. What is your most recent book called? What is it about? My most recent book is called Liesl & Po, and it's a novel for middle-grade readers (although I think it has broader appeal!). It's about a girl, a ghost, and a box containing the greatest magic in the world. The website is here: www.lieslandpo.com. 

3. What do you love about writing books? I love living in a world of my own creation; it's nice to be able to retreat somewhere safe whenever you like. And I love working from my pajamas!

4. Where do you see the book publishing landscape heading? I'm excited to see the opportunities that an increased reliance on digital books brings, in terms of multimedia storytelling and direct-to-consumer serialization. But I do think publishers will always have a role, even if in the end they end up being more the "tastemakers"--people who sort and distribute content, in whatever form this content assumes.

5. What advice do you have for authors looking to breakthrough? Just keep at it! That's what every writer says, but it's really the only relevant advice there is. Keep reading, keep writing, keep sending out your materials. 

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person.