According
to the 2016 sales figures released by Nielsen Book Scan, which purports to
track about 80% of all book sales based on the number of units (books) sold,
the top publisher is Penguin Random House.
Not a surprise. The top five
spots remain the Big 5: (2) Harper Collins (3) Simon & Schuster, (4)
Hachette Book Group, and (5) Macmillan.
What was a surprise was the rise of children’s book publishers.
Occupying
the sixth spot is Scholastic, followed at No. 7 by Disney Publishing
Worldwide.
Of
course, the average consumer is clueless as to which publisher publishes which
authors or what books. It gets further
complicated with the scores of imprints floating around. Will book publishers ever brand themselves?
Houghton
& Mifflin Harcourt ranked 8th, then Workman, and
Sourcebooks. Sterling, owned by Barnes
& Noble, is 11th and business trade publisher, John Wiley and
Sons ranked 12th.
This
list does not reflect profitability. In
fact, some of those publishers lost revenue in 2016. Simon & Schuster for
instance, though not reporting a loss, noted revenue declined by nearly 2%,
falling to 767 million bucks.
Nor
does this list include other things that make a publisher successful,
profitable, and sizeable, including:
·
Rights
that were sold, such as a foreign or film, which can bring in tens of millions of
dollars.
·
Sales from special
collector of gift editions that could sell for $100 or more.
·
Unit
sales beyond what Nielsen can capture.
·
The
sale of spin-off content, such as dolls, games and toys.
But
the list gives a decent snapshot as to where publishing stands. If history is of any use, look for any of the
Big 5 to seek to acquire some of the Top 20 publishers, such as indies
Kensington, Chronicle Books, or W.W. Norton.
What
the list also doesn’t show or compare is how the publishers rank against
self-publishers, such as iUniverse, Smashwords, Createspace, or others. There are also a lot of hybrid publishers and
publisher/distributors like Greenleaf Book Group, Morgan James, and others that
are moving plenty of units.
It’s
nice to see a publisher like Abrams, ranked at 13, make the list. They do great art books – as well as
cookbooks and children’s books.
It’s
also interesting to see how forceful religious book publishing is. No. 19 B&H Publishing and No. 20 Tyndale
House both specialize in the power of faith.
Literary
agents, authors, and publishers certainly pay attention to the rankings. It’s a matter of pride and economics. It may also serve as a road map for mergers
and acquisitions.
DON”T MISS THESE!!!
A Ruling In Favor Of A People’s Court For Book Publishing
Industry
Book Publishing Industry Is Spared Its Oscar Moment
Does Book Industry Need Its Own Snap Chat IPO?
When Our Dictionaries Make Us Dumber
Will YouTube Actually Save Or Kill All Books?
http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2017/03/will-youtube-save-or-kill-books.html
2017 Book Publicity
& Marketing Toolkit For Writers Of All Genres
How Would Madison Avenue Hawk Your Book?
Author Blogs: What Should They Say?
The Network of Book Marketing For Authors
Which Of These 6 Reasons Inspires You To Write Books?
How To Craft Press Releases That Net Your Book Media Exposure
The right book marketing strategy for you
Overcoming Book
Marketer's Block in 10 Easy Steps
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. This is copyrighted by
BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2017©. Born and raised in Brooklyn, now resides in
Westchester. Named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.