Elusive Publisher Information

There are sites which help erotica authors identify the largest e-publishers (as well as the voices of experience here at AW), but I'm having trouble doing the same with print.

I'm especially interested in the number of each publisher's titles per year for all its erotica, and in general sales figures for all erotica lines in print form, not print and epub lumped together.

While this will certainly include erotic romance, the data I seek cannot be limited to erotic romance only, since the two novels I'm ready to market don't qualify. (Well, one might, sort of.)

I've visited the bookstores here and in some of the places I've visited for a few years now, but that data could easily be skewed by proximity to certain presses or authors. Does the erotica section at the local Barnes & Noble have a lot of titles by a certain press because they're 25 miles away, or by a certain author because she's a well-known local romance and erotic romance writer, or because all the Barnes & Nobles do?

I'd like to follow Uncle Jim's advice and start at the top, submitting my work to the big guys, but in this genre, it's less obvious who they are.

Any tips on getting sales data?

Maryn, ready to work

The publishers who

• have print titles in stores in the northern midwest and the northeast--in the cities I've visited and had time to do my 'homework,' anyway
• seek works like at least one of mine:

Alyson
Bold Strokes, Liberty imprint
Carnal Desires
Carnal Passions, Champagne imprint
Cleis Press
Harlequin, Spice imprint (currently under censure)
Guiltless Pleasures (may be mostly epub)
Kensington, Aphrodisia imprint
Midnight Showcase/MS books
MLR Press
Sensorotika
SirenBookstrand, Menage Amour imprint

Many of these, I have reservations about. Some appear to be more about anthologies, or erotica romance, although they accept other material. Some have policies I find weird and unprofessional, like authors having to get their own copyright and/or submit a marketing plan. Some are e-publishers who also produce print, but give no clue how big a part of the business is print. Some are strongly anti-fetish, anti-violence, anti-something my work contains. At least one is closed to submissions until further notice. (Man, they must have some backlog, huh?)

Maryn, frustrated

This is useful--thanks for your input, everyone.

I suspect that one publisher who's got a lot of books in the stores where I browse and buy has those placements because they're in the region, then. I've never spotted their imprint more than 100 miles from home.

Maryn, moving them to a lower tier