kuatolives
11-02-2006, 01:17 AM
From ParaPublishing
http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm
Numbers that stood out for me:
-22 million titles ever published (plus or minus fourteen)
-Amazon sells 5% of all books
-Out of every 10 000 children's books, 3 gets published. (Unles you're Madonna ra ra you go publishing industry)
-Santa Barbara has at least 384 published book authors. The population of the South Coast is about 175,000.
-LA Times receives 600 to 700 books for review each week.
Publishers, Number of
6 large publishers (in New York)
3-400 medium-sized publishers
86,000 small/self-publishers
The six U.S. conglomerate publishers are
1. Random House, Inc.
2. Penguin Putnam Inc.
3. HarperCollins
4. Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings
5. Time Warner
6. Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Four are foreign owned
Publishers with 10 active ISBN identifiers: 73,000
Publishers with 11-199 active ISBN identifiers: 11,837
Publishers with 200 or more active ISBN identifiers: 1,804
--PMA Newsletter, September 2003 http://www.PMA-online.org
Total: 86,641 ISBN blocks issued it the U.S
Some publishers have more than one ISBN block. So, there are probably more than 80,000 publishers.
There are more than 10,000 non-profit publishers. --Jack McHugh, 15 July 98. j.b.mchugh@worldnet.att.net
8,000-11,000 new publishing companies are established each year. See http://www.ISBN.org
2002: 10,000 new publishing companies were established. An increase of 15%.
--Publishers weekly, June 2, 2003. http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Other countries
Australia
Sales: A$1.26 billion (USD $820 million)
Sales of title originating in Australia: A$747.7 million (USD $486 million)
Sales of imported titles: A$512.9 million (USD $333.4 million)
Value of exports: A$162.5 million (USD $105.6 million)
Largest export markets: U.S. 34%, New Zealand 16%, U.K. 14%
--Australian Bureau of Statistics study of 228 publishers, 2000-2001.
Canada
Canada: About 50,000 titles are published each year.
http://www.bookwire.com/bookwire/canadianbookproduction.htm
627+ Publishers *
$2.4 billion in Revenue
Up 9.4% from 1998-99
Published 27,797 titles. Up 13%.
15,744 original
12,053 reprints
Government grants to publishers. $48 million
Exported books. $154.8 million
Foreign Rights. $313 million.
(Amounts are in Canadian Dollars)
--Publishers Weekly http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
* These figures are most likely understated.
Smaller Publishers and Self-Publishers
A. From a survey and Special Report. Early 1988. ©1998 Brenner Information Group. http://www.BrennerBooks.com
1. 54% of small independent publishers are male, 42% are female (3% won't say).
2. California has 6X the number of small publishers than any other state. This finding is consistent with surveys of other creative professions, including desktop publishers, web publishers and multimedia designers.
3. The most popular business structure is the sole proprietorship-52% of male publishers and 56% of female publishers selected this legal formation.
4. Over 60% operate out of home offices (65% of males, 76% of females)
5. They've published an average of 7 titles each.
6. In 1997, they earned an average of $420,000.
7. Half of the high income small publishers earned over $1 million in 1997 working out of home offices.
8. The typical independent publisher (indie) works 50 hours a week. [Many work "half days": 8 am to 8 pm. : ]
9. Over 68% do not provide paid vacations.
10. Of the 30% that provide paid holidays, most give six days a year holiday benefit.
11. Over 80% have no pension or retirement program.
12. They produce 4X as many nonfiction titles as fiction titles. Juvenile and poetry are the most popular fiction genres. Self-help, how-to and business lead in the nonfiction categories.
13. Over 60% use Microsoft Word-23% use Word Perfect.
14. Most (47%) use Adobe PageMaker-24% use QuarkXpress.
15. Quickbooks is their most popular accounting software program.
16. Their most popular publishing publications are the PMA Newsletter, Publishers Weekly and the SPAN newsletter.
17. They pay an average of $276.25 for illustration on each book.
18. On average, they pay $465.17 for a simple cover design to as much as $3,533.26 for a complex cover design. Typical cover costs range $450 to $3,000.
19. Book design costs between $10 and $150 an hour.
20. They pay between $5 and $18 per page for interior page layout.
21. The average revenue per employee is $97,713.
22. On average it takes 475 hours to write a fiction title and 725 hours to write a nonfiction title.
22. It takes an average of 531 hours to produce a book-422 hours for fiction, 550 hours for nonfiction.
24. An average of 10 to 15 hours are spent designing a book cover.
25. On average, 61 hours are spent in the editing process.
26. On average, 29 hours are spent producing a news release for a new book.
27. Self publishers spend 52.4% of their book development budget writing a book (23.3% for fiction, 55.5% for nonfiction).
28. Graphic design consumes 13.5% of the budget for fiction titles and 3.7% of the budget for nonfiction titles.
29. Other than writing costs, small publishers spend most of their fiction title development budget in graphic design and illustration (13.5% and 20% respectively).
30. Other than writing costs, small publishers spend most of their nonfiction title development budget on illustration and page layout (7.5% and 8% respectively).
31. Advertising consumes most of the small publisher's marketing costs (36.5% for fiction titles, 29.8% for nonfiction titles).
B. From a survey conducted by Tom Woll, Cross River Publishing Consultants in the summer of 2003
2002: " 73,000 smaller and newer publishers grossed $29.4 billion.
" Sales increased 21% annually from 1997-2002.
Based on those publishers with 1-10 titles in print.
" Including publishers with 11-99 active titles, the revenue jumps to $34.3 billion.
" Smaller publisher are not represented in traditional industry figures.
" 70% of the publishers reported sale less than $100,000.
" 43% had been in business more than five years; 20% for more than 10 years.
" Most had print runs of 2-5,000 copies.
" The greater the number of titles, the greater the reliance on wholesalers and distributors for reaching bookstores.
--Publishers Marketing Association, http://www.PMA-online.org
Also see http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/information/business.cfm
Quantity of Publishers by Year
1947: 357 publishers
1973: 3,000 publishers
1980: 12,000 Publishers. The New York Times, February 23, 1981.
1994: 52,847 publishers. Books in Print.
2003: About 73,000 (plus those who publish through POD/DotCom publishers; they use the publisher's ISBN block.)
Book in Print
1.5+ million titles in print (currently available in the U.S.) Since 1776, 22 million titles have been published.
--Jerrold Jenkins, 15 May 99. http://www.JenkinsGroup.com US: About 120,000 titles are published each year. http://www.bookwire.com/bookwire/americanbookproduction.htm
2002: The larger publishers released 5% fewer books, mostly in adult fiction and travel.
Travel books were down in response to the economy and 9/11.
Title output was up 5.8% overall for a total of 150,000 titles
University press titles were up 10% over 2001.
--Publishers weekly http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
2002: The five large New York publishers accounted for 45% of the market (made 45% of the sales.) They grossed $4.1 billion.
--Publishers Weekly, June 16, 2003. http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
2002: The larger publishers decreased output 5% but titles published rose 6% to 150,000.
--R.R. Bowker in Publishers weekly, June 2, 2003. http://www.PublishersWeekly.com However, this number may include sheet music too.
2004: 2.8 million books in print.
--R.R. Bowker as reported in The Wall Street Journal, April 24, 2004.
Who is Publishing how many Books?
78% of the titles published come from the small/self-publishers.
http://www.pma-online.org/benefits/industry_reports.cfm
2002: The five large New York publishers accounted for 45% of the market (made 45% of the sales.) --Publishers Weekly, June 16, 2003. http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
1999: the top 20 publishers accounted for 93% of sales.
--Andre Schiffrin, The Business of Books in the Washington Post. October 18, 2000.
2000: 80% of the book sales are controlled by five conglomerates: Bertlesman (Random House), Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, Time Warner, Disney and Viacom/CBS.
--Andre Schiffrin, The Business of Books in the Washington Post. October 18, 2000.
2002: Five large New York publishers had US sales of $4.102 billion and worldwide sales of $5.68 billion.
Random House: $2.1 billion worldwide
Penguin Group: $1.3 billion
HarperCollins: $1.1 billion
Simon & Schuster: $690 million (est)
AOL/Time Warner: $415 million
--Publishers Weekly, June 16, 2003 http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
What genres/categories are people buying? 55% Popular fiction
10% Religious nonfiction
9% Cooking/Crafts
--2001 Consumer Research Study on Book Purchasing by the Book Industry Study Group, http://www.bisg.org
2002: Genres, quantity published.
New adult fiction: 17,000.
Juveniles: 10,000
--R.R. Bowker in Publishers weekly, June 2, 2003. http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Christian Books
2002 sales of books and products through all channels: just under $4.2 billion, up from $4 billion in 2000. $2.4 billion sold through Christian retail outlets; $1.1 billion through general retail; and $725 million through direct-to-consumer ministry channels. First 6 months of 2003: CBA member store sales were down 2%. Books increased 8%, Bibles increased 2% but music and gifts decreased 9%.
--Christian Booksellers Association reported in Publishers Weekly, August 4, 2003 http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Book Printers
1638: the first printing press was brought to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
--Doreen Carvajal, The New York Times, August 24, 1997.
42 (ink) book printers in the U.S. Most are in Michigan.
12 (digital) book printers in the U.S. Most specialize in very short runs (100-1,000 books).
2003: Ingram's LightningSource digitally prints (POD) 70,000 individual books/week. Their delivery channels cover more than 90% of the bookstores in the US. They fulfill nearly 1 million eBooks/day. They have more than 2,000 vendor/publishers as clients.
--LightningSource http://www.LightningSource.com
Also see http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/information/produce.cfm and http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/information/produce.cfm#16
Book Printing
Most initial print runs are 5,000 copies.
--Publishing for Profit by Tom Woll. Page 113.
TWoll@aol.com
4,986 was the average first press run; second printings averaged 4,776.
--PMA survey of members, 1998.
http://www.PMAonline.org
The first print run for a mid-list book by a larger publisher is 10-15,000 books.
--Brian DeFiore, Maui Writers Conference.
http://www.defioreandco.com/
A larger publisher must sell 10,000 books to break even.
--Brian DeFiore, Maui Writers Conference.
http://www.defioreandco.com/
Larger publishers have shifted their philosophy from a humongous first print run to a market reality run.
--Jean Srnecz, VP, Baker & Taylor. 1998.
http://www.BTOL.com
Also see http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/information/produce.cfm
POD Subsidy Publishers
(Xlibris, 1st Books, Trafford, iUniverse, et. al.)
Xlibris has paid out $1 million in royalties to some 9,000 authors since the company was founded in 1997. (About $111. each.)
--Publishers weekly, March 17, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Xlibris published 10,269 titles through March 25, 2004.
352 or 3.4% had sold more than 500 copies.
1,463 or 14.3% had sold more than 200 copies.
The average per-publication sale number of an Xlibris title is about 130 copies.
Xlibris grossed $2.5-million in 2000 and should do $8-million in 2004.
--The Wall Street Journal, April 24, 2004.
Book Sales in the U.S.
A successful fiction book sells 5,000 copies.
--Authors Guild. http://www.authorsguild.org/
A successful nonfiction book sells 7,500 copies.
--Authors Guild. http://www.authorsguild.org/
2001: $25.4 billion. Trade books (those in bookstores): $6.4 billion, religious $1.3 billion, Professional $4.7 billion, Book Clubs $1.3 billion, and other categories.
--Association of American Publishers
http://www.publishers.org/industry/index.cfm
2002: Books sales totaled roughly $26.9 billion.
--Association of American Publishers.
http://www.publishers.org/industry/index.cfm
2002: Books sales totaled roughly $26.9 billion.
A 5.5% increase over 2001. 2001 had a 0.6% increase over 2000.
College texts up 12.4% to $3.9 billion
Mass-Market paperbacks up 11.7% to $1.73 billion
Trade books up 8.8% to $6.93 billion
--Publishers weekly, March 10, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
One-third of the books sold worldwide are sold in the US.
--Overseas Book Service, December 8, 1998.
http://www.overseasbookservice.com
While the US Population is growing and education levels are rising, book sales are not-due to heavy media competition for leisure time.
--Business Trend Analysts, Inc. as reported in Publishers Weekly, October 27, 1997.
http://www.businesstrendanalysts.com/
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com *****
A book must move in the stores in six weeks.
--Brian DeFiore, Maui Writers Conference.
http://www.defioreandco.com
The top ten US cities by dollar volume of book sales and number of bookstores are Los Angeles-Long Beach; New York; Chicago; Boston; Washington, Philadelphia; San Francisco; Seattle-Bellevue-Everett; San Jose; San Diego.
--Christian Science Monitor, December 9, 1997.
http://www.csmonitor.com
Also see
http://www.bookweb.org/research/stats/374.html
In 2001, consumers purchased 1.6 billion books.
--2001 Consumer Research Study on Book Purchasing by the Book Industry Study Group,
http://www.bisg.org
2002: People spent $530 million on used books, 5% of the trade book market. The
Internet makes hard-to-find titles easier to locate.
There are 7,200 used bookstores, up 10% in 10 years.
Powell's in Portland, OR, does 40% of its business online; 55-65% of that volume is in used books.
--Newsweek, August 11, 2003
Used books were purchased by one out of ten book buyers in the previous nine months in 2002.
Used books account for $533 million in annual sales; 13% of the units sold and 5% of the total revenue.
The heaviest book buyers buy more than one-third of their books used.
The largest-selling used books are: Mysteries, romance and science fiction.
Used nonfiction sell best online.
--Ipsos Book Trends in Publishers weekly, June 9, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
eBooks
eBook sales increased 1,442% in January 2003 over January 2002.
--Publishers weekly, March 24, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
70% of book fair visitors are ready to buy electronic books if they can run them on any computer. 67% are ready to read the, 62% would borrow them from a library.
--Open E-Book Forum as reported in Booktech the Magazine, January/February 2003
Pricing
2002: The number of book priced between $30 and $40 increased 15% to more than 800 titles.
" Adult trade hardcover: increased 20 cents to an average of $27.52 average retail price.
" Adult trade soft cover: increased 2 cents to an average of $15.77 average retail price.
" Adult trade mass-market paper: increased 32 cents to an average of $7.30 average retail price.
" Juvenile hard covers rose 12% to 15.93
" University press hardcover titles decrease 11 cents to 51.09
" University press soft cover titles rose 11 cents to $18.30
--R.R. Bowker in Publishers weekly, June 2, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Book Exports from the US
Entertainment content is the largest U.S. export.
Information is the basis of more than half the gross domestic product.
--The Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2003
$837.5 million in 2001. To Canada, UK, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Singapore, Netherlands, Germany, South Korea and others, in that order.
--Publishers Weekly, September 3, 2001.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
2002: $1.68 billion, down 1.8%
Top eexport markets (in order): Canada, U.K. Japan, Australia, Mexico, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Germany, Taiwan.
--Publishers weekly, March 24, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Bookstores
15,000 stores in the U.S. that carry books.
8,000 are "bookstores".
3,000 might be profiled for any particular book. (Business books sell better downtown; parenting books can be found in the suburbs).
59% of the customers plan to purchase a specific book when entering a bookstore.
--Book industry Study Group. Publishing for Profit by Tom Woll, page 170.
http://www.BISG.org
TWoll@aol.com
40% make impulse purchases.
--Book industry Study Group. Publishing for Profit by Tom Woll, page 170.
http://www.BISG.org
TWoll@aol.com
2002: Of the $23.7 billion spent on books, only $10.7 billion is spent in bookstores. The non-traditional outlets sell more books.
--Tami DePalma, Marketability.
twist@marketability.com
Borders 2002: opened 41 super stores for a total of 404.
Closed 53 Waldenbook stores and opened 4, leaving a total of 778.
8 new stores were opened overseas for a total of 30 super stores and 37 Books, Etc.
--Publishers weekly, March 17, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Book Purchases by Store Type
24.6% Large chain stores
17.7% Book Clubs
15.2% Smaller chains and independent stores.
5.4% Internet such as Amazon.com
--Book Industry Study Group.
http://www.BISG.org
2002: $450 million was spent on general-interest books at big-box stores such as Wal-Mart. That figure is up 7.4% from 2000. Costco and other price clubs are taking market share from the bookstores.
--Ipsos Book Trends, reported in The Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2003
Chain stores
2001 gross sales:
Barnes & Noble: $3.8 billion
Borders Group: $3.5 billion
Books-A-Million: $443 million
2002 gross sales:
Barnes & Noble: $3.7 billion
Borders Group: $3.4 billion
Books-A-Million: $443 million
--Publishers weekly, April 7, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Online Bookstores
Number of books sold online in 1999: 57 million.
--The Standard, October 23, 2000.
http://www.thestandard.com
In 2000, online sales were 5-10% of total book sales. 40% were fiction.
--The Standard, October 23, 2000.
http://www.thestandard.com
Amazon.com is Bantam-Doubleday-Dell's third largest customer.
--Michael Larsen, agent.
larsenpoma@aol.com
Amazon.com sells 5% of all books for $3 billion. Amazon.com is ranked among the top 50 brands in the world.
--Newsweek. April 9, 2001.
http://www.Newsweek.com
2002: Online bookstores sold 10% of the books.
-- The Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2003
Amazon had 35.9 million visitors in May 2003.
BarnesAndNoble.com had 7.9 million
--ComScores Networks, Inc. The Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2003
2002: Books were by far the best Internet seller. 43% of online shoppers purchased at least one book.
--Vertus Customer Focus (http://www.VertisInc.com) , reported in www.TargetOnLine.com (http://www.TargetOnLine.com)
American Booksellers Association (The independent bookstore organization). The chain stores are replacing the independents.
ABA membership was 5,132 in 1991. It fell to 4,047 in 1998.
--Business Week, June 29, 1998.
www.businessweek.com (http://www.businessweek.com)
Since 1993, ABA membership has dropped from 5,100 to 3,500 because the independent stores have been driven out of business.
--Chicago Tribune Magazine, May 31, 1998.
http://www.chicagotribune.com
ABA membership declined to 2,800 stores.
--Publishers Weekly, December 2001
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
ABA membership
2000: 2,794
2001: 2,191
2002: 1,900 (a loss of 30% in two years)
--Mitch Kaplan, vice-president American Booksellers Association.
http://www.bookweb.org
Only 100 stores joined the ABA in 2001 while 250-300 stores closed. Membership is now less than 2,200.
--PublishersLunch,
http://www.caderbooks.com
In April 2003, bookstore membership dropped 9% from a year earlier.
Total membership, including industry members and prospective booksellers, dropped 11.4%
Total membership was 2,643
--Publishers Weekly, September 22, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Covers, Book
Everyone judges a book by its cover.
On the average, a book store browser spends eight seconds looking at the front cover and 15 seconds looking at the back cover.
Sales Reps show covers or jackets and give a sales pitch that averages 14 seconds.
Also see 116: Book Cover Worksheet.
http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/allproducts.cfm
and
http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/supplier.cfm
Libraries
The library market was $3-billion in 1993.
68% of Baker & Taylor's sales are to libraries.
--Jerrold Jenkins,
http://www.JenkinsGroup.com
90% of the 15,000 public libraries in the US order (some) of their books through Baker & Taylor and spend more than $444 million on books annually.
--U.S. Department of Justice as reported in The Wall Street Journal, February 4, 1997.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
http://online.wsj.com/public/us *****
Libraries lose 20% of their books each year. Some books get past the security devices and others are just not returned.
Also see
http://www.ala.org
Book Fairs
The first ABA convention was in 1901.
--Chicago Tribune Magazine, May 31, 1998.
http://www.chicagotribune.com
The first ABA book fair was in 1947. For many years it was in the basement of the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC.
--Chicago Tribune Magazine, May 31, 1998.
http://www.chicagotribune.com
ABA/BEA Book Fair attendance was:
1996: 37, 464
1997: 25,732
1998: 25,672
In 2001, there were 2000 exhibitors
http://www.BookExpoAmerica.com
2003 BEA Survey
85% felt there was more floor traffic in New York 2002 than in Los Angeles in 2003.
62% said there was more traffic in Chicago in 2001 than in Los Angeles in 2002.
82% like moving the show from city to city.
61% prefer Chicago
21% favor Los Angeles
18% favor New York
--Bargain Book News
http://www.iMakeNews.com/BargainBookNews
The Frankfurt Book fair has 9,000 exhibitors.
http://www.frankfurt-book-fair.com/en/portal.html
Larger publishers send 2-3 acquisition editors to attend book fairs and otherwise canvas the country for previously (self) published books.
--Brian DeFiore, Maui Writers Conference.
http://www.defioreandco.com
75% of the floor space at the 1999 BEA book fair in Los Angeles was occupied by small presses and self-publishers.
Christian Booksellers Association Book Fair
Attendance:
2003: 10,902
2002: 13,129
International attendance:
2003: 708
2002: 1,039
Exhibitors:
2003: 477. 224 were book and Bible publishers. Exhibitor brought 1,000 fewer staff than in 2002.
2002: 496
2001: 515
--Christian Booksellers Association reported in Publishers Weekly, August 4, 2003
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
And see
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/digest2001/tables/dt425.asp
Copyright Infringement.
Global piracy losses to the U.S. book publishers estimated at $650.8 million in 2001.
--International Intellectual Property Alliance.
http://www.iipa.com/statistics.html
Writers and Authors
81% of the population feels they have a book inside them.
27% would write fiction.
28% would write on personal development
27% would write history, biography, etc.
20% would do a picture book, cookbook, etc.
6 million have written a manuscript.
6 million manuscripts are making the rounds.
Out of every 10,000 children's books, 3 get published.
--Jerrold Jenkins. 15 May 99.
http://www.JenkinsGroup.com
Santa Barbara has at least 384 published book authors. The population of the South Coast is about 175,000.
--Dan Poynter.
http://ParaPub.com
Subscribers to Writer's Digest magazine. Who are these writers?
25% are working on fiction or poetry.
Have been writing for 14.6 years on the average.
Each averages 12.6 hours/week writing.
--Advanced writers: 30.5 hours/week
--Intermediate writers: 11 hours/week
--Beginning writers: 7 hours/week
The average (mean) Writer's Digest subscriber is:
Female. 66.9%
47 years old.
Has .63 children.
Has completed 15.6 years of education.
Has a household income of $53,353.
Has a net worth of $238,178.
Writer's Digest Book Club members
--More than 50% of the members are writing fiction.
Retail Book Buyers/Readers
Women buy 68% of all books.
--Lou Aronica, Senior V-P Avon Books. Publishers Weekly, March 22, 1999.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
The median household income for book buyers is $41,600, compared to $35,300 for all adults.
--Bookselling This Week, November 10, 1997.
http://news.bookweb.org/
Men are more likely to shop in chain stores than women. Women are more likely to shop in discount stores and supermarkets than men.
--Publishers Weekly, May 12, 1997, page 13.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
$1.7 billion is spent annually on textbooks. $78 billion is spent on alcohol, $37 billion on cigarettes and $6 billion on pet food.
Also see
http://bookbuzz.com/bisg1998study.htm
In the U.S., 40-million people move their residence each year. This makes keeping up with address changes an expensive challenge.
--Target Marketing, March 2002.
http://www.TargetOnLine.com
How much do people like to pay?
28% $5 to $7.99. Presumably they are buying mostly mass-market paperbacks.
19% $3 to $.99
19% $10 to $14.99
19% $15 to $24.99
--2001 Consumer Research Study on Book Purchasing by the Book Industry Study Group,
http://www.bisg.org
Who is Reading Books (and who is not)
One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. Many do not even graduate from high school.
58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
42% of college graduates never read another book.
80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
57% of new books are not read to completion.
--Jerrold Jenkins.
http://www.JenkinsGroup.com
Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.
63% of adults report purchasing at least one book during the previous three-month period. (Most were probably exaggerating).
--Bookselling This Week, November 10, 1997.
http://news.bookweb.org/
53% read fiction, 43% nonfiction. The favorite fiction category is mystery & Suspense, 19%.
--Publishers Weekly, May 12, 1997, page 13.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Of the top fifty books, fiction outsells nonfiction about 60% to 40%. Fiction peaks in July at 70% but nonfiction reaches almost 50% in December.
--USA Today, April 30, 1999.
http://www.USAtoday.com
55% of fiction is bought by women; 45% by men.
--Publishers Weekly, May 12, 1997, page 13.
Thirty percent of Americans surveyed by the Harris Poll say they would rather read a book than do anything else; twenty-one percent said watching TV is their favorite activity. That's the good news. The bad news is that only 13 percent selected "spending time with family.
--Publishers Weekly email Daily, July 9, 1998.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Each day, people in the US spend 4 hours watching TV, 3 hours listening to the radio and 14 minutes reading magazines.
--Veronis, Suhler & Associates investment bankers
http://www.veronissuhler.com
70% of Americans haven't visited a bookstore in five (5) years.
--Michael Levine, June 2002
http://www.LevinPR.com
Customers 55 and older account for more than one-third of all books bought.
--2001 Consumer Research Study on Book Purchasing by the Book Industry Study Group,
http://www.bisg.org
People reduced their time reading between 1996 and 2001 to 2.1 hours/month.
2001: per capita spending on books per month was $7.18.
--Publishers Weekly, May 26, 2003
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Only 32% of the U.S. population has ever been in a bookstore.
--David Godine, Publisher.
The time Americans spend reading books.
1996: 123 hours
2001: 109 hours
--Veronis, Suhler & Associates investment bankers
http://www.veronissuhler.com
1996 to 2001
Consumer spending on book rose 16%
Unit sales dropped 6%
(Readers spend more and purchased fewer books)
--Veronis, Suhler & Associates investment bankers
http://www.veronissuhler.com
2001: Households purchasing at least one book 56.5%
--Veronis, Suhler & Associates investment bankers
http://www.veronissuhler.com
The mean age of book buyers
1997: Age 15-39: 26.5% of the books bought
2001: Age 15-39: 20.8% of the books bought
1997: Age over 55: 33.7% of the books bought.
2001: Age over 55: 44.1% of the books bought
--Ipsos NPD reported in Publishers Weekly, January 6, 2003
Literacy
1992: 20% of adults in the U.S. read at or below the fifth grade level.
--National Adult Literacy Survey reported in Publishers Weekly, January 6, 2003.
"Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half have never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half."
--Gore Vidal, author.
Mass-Media Use by Consumers, 1996.
Hours spent per year:
1,100: Broadcast TV. Increasing.
480: Cable TV. Increasing
250: Recorded music. Increasing.
180: Newspapers. Decreasing
90: Magazines. decreasing.
105: Books. Level.
65: Home video. Level.
10: Movies. Level.
-- Doreen Carvajal, The New York Times, August 24, 1997.
http://www.nytimes.com
Consumer Spending in 1996
$5.4 billion was spent on movies.
25.6 billion was spent on books.
Self-Help Books
The self-help book category came into its own in 1936 with the publication of Dale Carnegie's book How to Win Friends and Influence People. Today self-help sales are $538-million and account for one in ten titles sold.
--The Wall Street Journal, December 8, 1998.
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
1,818 self-help titles were published in 1997, generating $538 million.
--Simba Information as reported in USA Today.
http://www.simbanet.com
http://www.USAtoday.com
U.S. self-help books sell very well in Australia, moderately well in Japan and poorly in Britain. The majority of self-help books are purchased by women.
--Bob Miller, Group Publisher of Hyperion as reported in USA Today.
http://www.USAtoday.com
Fiction
5,000 novels, 200 first novels and 100 scripts are purchased each year.
--Ridley Pearson, Maui Writers Conference.
http://www.ridleypearson.com
Screenplays
A TV movie will be seen by 3-million people and will sell more books than a screen film.
--Andy Cohen, Maui Writers Conference.
GradeAProd@aol.com
Agents
Eighty percent of the books published by major houses come through agents.
--Michael Larsen, Literary Agent.
larsenpoma@aol.com
Advances
70% of the books published do not earn out their advance.
--Jerrold Jenkins, 15 May 99.
http://www.JenkinsGroup.com
70% of the books published do not make a profit.
--Jerrold Jenkins, 15 May 99.
http://www.JenkinsGroup.com
Many advances are between $1,500 and $7,500.
--Publishing for Profit by Tom Woll, page 109.
TWoll@aol.com
A typical advance for a computer book is $10,000.
--Chicago Tribune, June 21, 1998.
http://www.chicagotribune.com
Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf received an advance of more than $5 million from Bertlesmann; Gen. Colin Powell got $6.5 million from Newhouse, Former O.J. pall Paula Barbieri got $3.5 million from Time Warner. Simon & Schuster, Random House, and Penguin Putnam wrote off at least $100 million in unearned advances in 1996.
--Bookselling This Week, October 6, 1997.
http://news.bookweb.org/
Large advances for books that flopped: Journey to Justice by Johnnie Cochran, Ballantine paid a reported $3.5 million; Behind the Oval Office by Dick Morris, Random House paid an estimated $2.5 million; Leading with my Chin by Jay Leno, HarperCollins paid a reported $4 million.
--The Wall Street Journal, May 29, 1997.
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
Royalties
The average royalty is 10.7% of net.
--John Huenefeld. Publishing for Profit by Tom Woll, page 121.
TWoll@aol.com
Reviews
LA Times receives 600 to 700 books for review each week.
--Steve Wasserman, book review editor.
http://www.latimes.com
Websites
"We put up a dictionary in 1996, free for everyone and knowing that words people look up fascinate us. The web site has helped the company reinforce its brand with a 17% increase in sales.
--John Morse, president and publisher, Merriam-Webster. Publishers Weekly, December 2001
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Note: The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary is the bestselling hardcover book in U.S. history. It has sold 55-million copies since it first appeared in 1898.
Bestsellers
Bestsellers accounted for 3% of the sales at Barnes & Noble in 1997.
--Business Week, June 29, 1998.
http://www.BusinessWeek.com
64% of book buyers say a book's being on a bestseller list is not important.
--Publishers Weekly, May 12, 1997, page 13.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Last spring (1999) an uneasy Authors Guild, which had spent more than a year looking into these trends, released its report on midlist publishing. It laboriously toted up the figures for the top fiction and nonfiction titles on the Publishers Weekly annual bestseller list, then showed how those 30 megabooks suck up a growing proportion of sales. In 1986, the bestsellers accounted for about 7 percent of all adult hardcover trade book sales; a decade later they accounted for 13 percent. In 1999, applying the same methodology, the proportion reached nearly 15 percent.
http://www.AuthorsGuild.org
In 1975, the bestselling book was E.L. Doctorow's "Ragtime. It sold 232,000 books. In 2000, John Grisham's "The Brethren" sold 2.8 million books.
--National Arts Journalism Program,
http://www.NAJP.org
Nearly all bestsellers come from five publishing conglomerates.
--National Arts Journalism Program,
http://www.NAJP.org
2002 Bestsellers by Corporation
Hardcover
Random House: 64
Penguin Putnam: 41
Simon & Schuster: 29
Time Warner: 30
Harper-Collins: 22
Von Holtzbrink: 18
Hyperion: 15
Soft cover
Random House: 63
Penguin Putnam: 48
Simon & Schuster: 28
Time Warner: 19
Harper-Collins: 30
Von Holtzbrink: 12
Hyperion: 5
--Publishers Weekly, January 13, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
2003. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling.
630 Barnes & Noble stores sold 286,000 copies in the first hour; 896,000 the first day.
1,200 Borders and Walden stores sold 750,000 copies in the first 23 hours; the highest first-day sales in its history.
In the UK, WHSmith sold 120,000 the first day. 31,500 postmen were needed to delver the book in England.
5-million copies were sold the first day, shattering all records.
--The Wall Street Journal, June 2003.
2003. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling.
9.3 million copies were in print the initial week.
750,000 audiobooks were in print the initial week.
Amazon.com sold the $29.99 book for $12.00
Amazon.com shipped 789,000 the first day.
--Publishers Weekly, June 30, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Harry Potter Bestsellers
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: 25.1 million
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: 22 million
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: 16.7 million
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: 16.3 million
The books have been published in 55 languages and distributed in more than 200 countries.
--The Wall Street Journal, January 16, 2003
For bestseller lists between 1900 and 1995, see
http://www.caderbooks.com/bestintro.html
Also see
http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/information/promote.cfm
Returns
Books are displayed in bookstores for one selling season of four months. Those books that do not sell are returned for a refund. Yes, books may be "gone today, here tomorrow."
Returns are 21-23% for larger publishers according to the AAP.
--Tom Woll in Publishing for Profit.
http://www.publishers.org/industry/index.cfm
TWoll@aol.com
Barnes & Noble had a return rate of 28% for all categories of books in 1996 and 19% in 1997.
--Publishers Weekly Interactive. March 30, 1998.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Returns were 23% in 1993.
--Jerrold Jenkins.
http://www.JenkinsGroup.com
http://www.JenkinsGroup.com
The 1997 return rate for new adult trade hardcover books was 36.7% according to the AAP.
--PW Interactive. March 30, 1998.
http://www.publishers.org/industry/index.cfm
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
A return rate of 15% is considered very good.
--Publishing for Profit by Tom Woll, page 76.
TWoll@aol.com
35% worth of the adult hardcovers shipped to retailers in 1996 were returned in 1996 according to the AAP. The rate was 32% in 1995.
--The Wall Street Journal, May 29, 1997.
http://www.publishers.org/industry/index.cfm
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
Sell-Through. Independent stores sell over 80% of the books they order. Superstores sell 70% of the books they order. Discounters such as Wal-Mart and Sam's Club sell about 60%.
--The Wall Street Journal, May 29, 1997.
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
The industry return rate is 36.3% for hardcover and 25% for soft. B&N returns 19%.
--Brill's Content, July/August 1998.
2002: 37% of the books sent to stores were returned.
www.electronic-publishing.com (http://www.electronic-publishing.com)
Harper-Collins lost more than $250 million in a single year just on returns.
--The New York Times, reported in Booktech the Magazine, March/April 2002
Up to 40% of all books manufactured never sell. Most publishers would rather suffer the costs of over-runs and returns than run short of a title.
--Booktech the Magazine, March/April 2002
http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm
Numbers that stood out for me:
-22 million titles ever published (plus or minus fourteen)
-Amazon sells 5% of all books
-Out of every 10 000 children's books, 3 gets published. (Unles you're Madonna ra ra you go publishing industry)
-Santa Barbara has at least 384 published book authors. The population of the South Coast is about 175,000.
-LA Times receives 600 to 700 books for review each week.
Publishers, Number of
6 large publishers (in New York)
3-400 medium-sized publishers
86,000 small/self-publishers
The six U.S. conglomerate publishers are
1. Random House, Inc.
2. Penguin Putnam Inc.
3. HarperCollins
4. Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings
5. Time Warner
6. Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Four are foreign owned
Publishers with 10 active ISBN identifiers: 73,000
Publishers with 11-199 active ISBN identifiers: 11,837
Publishers with 200 or more active ISBN identifiers: 1,804
--PMA Newsletter, September 2003 http://www.PMA-online.org
Total: 86,641 ISBN blocks issued it the U.S
Some publishers have more than one ISBN block. So, there are probably more than 80,000 publishers.
There are more than 10,000 non-profit publishers. --Jack McHugh, 15 July 98. j.b.mchugh@worldnet.att.net
8,000-11,000 new publishing companies are established each year. See http://www.ISBN.org
2002: 10,000 new publishing companies were established. An increase of 15%.
--Publishers weekly, June 2, 2003. http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Other countries
Australia
Sales: A$1.26 billion (USD $820 million)
Sales of title originating in Australia: A$747.7 million (USD $486 million)
Sales of imported titles: A$512.9 million (USD $333.4 million)
Value of exports: A$162.5 million (USD $105.6 million)
Largest export markets: U.S. 34%, New Zealand 16%, U.K. 14%
--Australian Bureau of Statistics study of 228 publishers, 2000-2001.
Canada
Canada: About 50,000 titles are published each year.
http://www.bookwire.com/bookwire/canadianbookproduction.htm
627+ Publishers *
$2.4 billion in Revenue
Up 9.4% from 1998-99
Published 27,797 titles. Up 13%.
15,744 original
12,053 reprints
Government grants to publishers. $48 million
Exported books. $154.8 million
Foreign Rights. $313 million.
(Amounts are in Canadian Dollars)
--Publishers Weekly http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
* These figures are most likely understated.
Smaller Publishers and Self-Publishers
A. From a survey and Special Report. Early 1988. ©1998 Brenner Information Group. http://www.BrennerBooks.com
1. 54% of small independent publishers are male, 42% are female (3% won't say).
2. California has 6X the number of small publishers than any other state. This finding is consistent with surveys of other creative professions, including desktop publishers, web publishers and multimedia designers.
3. The most popular business structure is the sole proprietorship-52% of male publishers and 56% of female publishers selected this legal formation.
4. Over 60% operate out of home offices (65% of males, 76% of females)
5. They've published an average of 7 titles each.
6. In 1997, they earned an average of $420,000.
7. Half of the high income small publishers earned over $1 million in 1997 working out of home offices.
8. The typical independent publisher (indie) works 50 hours a week. [Many work "half days": 8 am to 8 pm. : ]
9. Over 68% do not provide paid vacations.
10. Of the 30% that provide paid holidays, most give six days a year holiday benefit.
11. Over 80% have no pension or retirement program.
12. They produce 4X as many nonfiction titles as fiction titles. Juvenile and poetry are the most popular fiction genres. Self-help, how-to and business lead in the nonfiction categories.
13. Over 60% use Microsoft Word-23% use Word Perfect.
14. Most (47%) use Adobe PageMaker-24% use QuarkXpress.
15. Quickbooks is their most popular accounting software program.
16. Their most popular publishing publications are the PMA Newsletter, Publishers Weekly and the SPAN newsletter.
17. They pay an average of $276.25 for illustration on each book.
18. On average, they pay $465.17 for a simple cover design to as much as $3,533.26 for a complex cover design. Typical cover costs range $450 to $3,000.
19. Book design costs between $10 and $150 an hour.
20. They pay between $5 and $18 per page for interior page layout.
21. The average revenue per employee is $97,713.
22. On average it takes 475 hours to write a fiction title and 725 hours to write a nonfiction title.
22. It takes an average of 531 hours to produce a book-422 hours for fiction, 550 hours for nonfiction.
24. An average of 10 to 15 hours are spent designing a book cover.
25. On average, 61 hours are spent in the editing process.
26. On average, 29 hours are spent producing a news release for a new book.
27. Self publishers spend 52.4% of their book development budget writing a book (23.3% for fiction, 55.5% for nonfiction).
28. Graphic design consumes 13.5% of the budget for fiction titles and 3.7% of the budget for nonfiction titles.
29. Other than writing costs, small publishers spend most of their fiction title development budget in graphic design and illustration (13.5% and 20% respectively).
30. Other than writing costs, small publishers spend most of their nonfiction title development budget on illustration and page layout (7.5% and 8% respectively).
31. Advertising consumes most of the small publisher's marketing costs (36.5% for fiction titles, 29.8% for nonfiction titles).
B. From a survey conducted by Tom Woll, Cross River Publishing Consultants in the summer of 2003
2002: " 73,000 smaller and newer publishers grossed $29.4 billion.
" Sales increased 21% annually from 1997-2002.
Based on those publishers with 1-10 titles in print.
" Including publishers with 11-99 active titles, the revenue jumps to $34.3 billion.
" Smaller publisher are not represented in traditional industry figures.
" 70% of the publishers reported sale less than $100,000.
" 43% had been in business more than five years; 20% for more than 10 years.
" Most had print runs of 2-5,000 copies.
" The greater the number of titles, the greater the reliance on wholesalers and distributors for reaching bookstores.
--Publishers Marketing Association, http://www.PMA-online.org
Also see http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/information/business.cfm
Quantity of Publishers by Year
1947: 357 publishers
1973: 3,000 publishers
1980: 12,000 Publishers. The New York Times, February 23, 1981.
1994: 52,847 publishers. Books in Print.
2003: About 73,000 (plus those who publish through POD/DotCom publishers; they use the publisher's ISBN block.)
Book in Print
1.5+ million titles in print (currently available in the U.S.) Since 1776, 22 million titles have been published.
--Jerrold Jenkins, 15 May 99. http://www.JenkinsGroup.com US: About 120,000 titles are published each year. http://www.bookwire.com/bookwire/americanbookproduction.htm
2002: The larger publishers released 5% fewer books, mostly in adult fiction and travel.
Travel books were down in response to the economy and 9/11.
Title output was up 5.8% overall for a total of 150,000 titles
University press titles were up 10% over 2001.
--Publishers weekly http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
2002: The five large New York publishers accounted for 45% of the market (made 45% of the sales.) They grossed $4.1 billion.
--Publishers Weekly, June 16, 2003. http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
2002: The larger publishers decreased output 5% but titles published rose 6% to 150,000.
--R.R. Bowker in Publishers weekly, June 2, 2003. http://www.PublishersWeekly.com However, this number may include sheet music too.
2004: 2.8 million books in print.
--R.R. Bowker as reported in The Wall Street Journal, April 24, 2004.
Who is Publishing how many Books?
78% of the titles published come from the small/self-publishers.
http://www.pma-online.org/benefits/industry_reports.cfm
2002: The five large New York publishers accounted for 45% of the market (made 45% of the sales.) --Publishers Weekly, June 16, 2003. http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
1999: the top 20 publishers accounted for 93% of sales.
--Andre Schiffrin, The Business of Books in the Washington Post. October 18, 2000.
2000: 80% of the book sales are controlled by five conglomerates: Bertlesman (Random House), Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, Time Warner, Disney and Viacom/CBS.
--Andre Schiffrin, The Business of Books in the Washington Post. October 18, 2000.
2002: Five large New York publishers had US sales of $4.102 billion and worldwide sales of $5.68 billion.
Random House: $2.1 billion worldwide
Penguin Group: $1.3 billion
HarperCollins: $1.1 billion
Simon & Schuster: $690 million (est)
AOL/Time Warner: $415 million
--Publishers Weekly, June 16, 2003 http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
What genres/categories are people buying? 55% Popular fiction
10% Religious nonfiction
9% Cooking/Crafts
--2001 Consumer Research Study on Book Purchasing by the Book Industry Study Group, http://www.bisg.org
2002: Genres, quantity published.
New adult fiction: 17,000.
Juveniles: 10,000
--R.R. Bowker in Publishers weekly, June 2, 2003. http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Christian Books
2002 sales of books and products through all channels: just under $4.2 billion, up from $4 billion in 2000. $2.4 billion sold through Christian retail outlets; $1.1 billion through general retail; and $725 million through direct-to-consumer ministry channels. First 6 months of 2003: CBA member store sales were down 2%. Books increased 8%, Bibles increased 2% but music and gifts decreased 9%.
--Christian Booksellers Association reported in Publishers Weekly, August 4, 2003 http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Book Printers
1638: the first printing press was brought to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
--Doreen Carvajal, The New York Times, August 24, 1997.
42 (ink) book printers in the U.S. Most are in Michigan.
12 (digital) book printers in the U.S. Most specialize in very short runs (100-1,000 books).
2003: Ingram's LightningSource digitally prints (POD) 70,000 individual books/week. Their delivery channels cover more than 90% of the bookstores in the US. They fulfill nearly 1 million eBooks/day. They have more than 2,000 vendor/publishers as clients.
--LightningSource http://www.LightningSource.com
Also see http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/information/produce.cfm and http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/information/produce.cfm#16
Book Printing
Most initial print runs are 5,000 copies.
--Publishing for Profit by Tom Woll. Page 113.
TWoll@aol.com
4,986 was the average first press run; second printings averaged 4,776.
--PMA survey of members, 1998.
http://www.PMAonline.org
The first print run for a mid-list book by a larger publisher is 10-15,000 books.
--Brian DeFiore, Maui Writers Conference.
http://www.defioreandco.com/
A larger publisher must sell 10,000 books to break even.
--Brian DeFiore, Maui Writers Conference.
http://www.defioreandco.com/
Larger publishers have shifted their philosophy from a humongous first print run to a market reality run.
--Jean Srnecz, VP, Baker & Taylor. 1998.
http://www.BTOL.com
Also see http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/information/produce.cfm
POD Subsidy Publishers
(Xlibris, 1st Books, Trafford, iUniverse, et. al.)
Xlibris has paid out $1 million in royalties to some 9,000 authors since the company was founded in 1997. (About $111. each.)
--Publishers weekly, March 17, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Xlibris published 10,269 titles through March 25, 2004.
352 or 3.4% had sold more than 500 copies.
1,463 or 14.3% had sold more than 200 copies.
The average per-publication sale number of an Xlibris title is about 130 copies.
Xlibris grossed $2.5-million in 2000 and should do $8-million in 2004.
--The Wall Street Journal, April 24, 2004.
Book Sales in the U.S.
A successful fiction book sells 5,000 copies.
--Authors Guild. http://www.authorsguild.org/
A successful nonfiction book sells 7,500 copies.
--Authors Guild. http://www.authorsguild.org/
2001: $25.4 billion. Trade books (those in bookstores): $6.4 billion, religious $1.3 billion, Professional $4.7 billion, Book Clubs $1.3 billion, and other categories.
--Association of American Publishers
http://www.publishers.org/industry/index.cfm
2002: Books sales totaled roughly $26.9 billion.
--Association of American Publishers.
http://www.publishers.org/industry/index.cfm
2002: Books sales totaled roughly $26.9 billion.
A 5.5% increase over 2001. 2001 had a 0.6% increase over 2000.
College texts up 12.4% to $3.9 billion
Mass-Market paperbacks up 11.7% to $1.73 billion
Trade books up 8.8% to $6.93 billion
--Publishers weekly, March 10, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
One-third of the books sold worldwide are sold in the US.
--Overseas Book Service, December 8, 1998.
http://www.overseasbookservice.com
While the US Population is growing and education levels are rising, book sales are not-due to heavy media competition for leisure time.
--Business Trend Analysts, Inc. as reported in Publishers Weekly, October 27, 1997.
http://www.businesstrendanalysts.com/
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com *****
A book must move in the stores in six weeks.
--Brian DeFiore, Maui Writers Conference.
http://www.defioreandco.com
The top ten US cities by dollar volume of book sales and number of bookstores are Los Angeles-Long Beach; New York; Chicago; Boston; Washington, Philadelphia; San Francisco; Seattle-Bellevue-Everett; San Jose; San Diego.
--Christian Science Monitor, December 9, 1997.
http://www.csmonitor.com
Also see
http://www.bookweb.org/research/stats/374.html
In 2001, consumers purchased 1.6 billion books.
--2001 Consumer Research Study on Book Purchasing by the Book Industry Study Group,
http://www.bisg.org
2002: People spent $530 million on used books, 5% of the trade book market. The
Internet makes hard-to-find titles easier to locate.
There are 7,200 used bookstores, up 10% in 10 years.
Powell's in Portland, OR, does 40% of its business online; 55-65% of that volume is in used books.
--Newsweek, August 11, 2003
Used books were purchased by one out of ten book buyers in the previous nine months in 2002.
Used books account for $533 million in annual sales; 13% of the units sold and 5% of the total revenue.
The heaviest book buyers buy more than one-third of their books used.
The largest-selling used books are: Mysteries, romance and science fiction.
Used nonfiction sell best online.
--Ipsos Book Trends in Publishers weekly, June 9, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
eBooks
eBook sales increased 1,442% in January 2003 over January 2002.
--Publishers weekly, March 24, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
70% of book fair visitors are ready to buy electronic books if they can run them on any computer. 67% are ready to read the, 62% would borrow them from a library.
--Open E-Book Forum as reported in Booktech the Magazine, January/February 2003
Pricing
2002: The number of book priced between $30 and $40 increased 15% to more than 800 titles.
" Adult trade hardcover: increased 20 cents to an average of $27.52 average retail price.
" Adult trade soft cover: increased 2 cents to an average of $15.77 average retail price.
" Adult trade mass-market paper: increased 32 cents to an average of $7.30 average retail price.
" Juvenile hard covers rose 12% to 15.93
" University press hardcover titles decrease 11 cents to 51.09
" University press soft cover titles rose 11 cents to $18.30
--R.R. Bowker in Publishers weekly, June 2, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Book Exports from the US
Entertainment content is the largest U.S. export.
Information is the basis of more than half the gross domestic product.
--The Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2003
$837.5 million in 2001. To Canada, UK, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Singapore, Netherlands, Germany, South Korea and others, in that order.
--Publishers Weekly, September 3, 2001.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
2002: $1.68 billion, down 1.8%
Top eexport markets (in order): Canada, U.K. Japan, Australia, Mexico, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Germany, Taiwan.
--Publishers weekly, March 24, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Bookstores
15,000 stores in the U.S. that carry books.
8,000 are "bookstores".
3,000 might be profiled for any particular book. (Business books sell better downtown; parenting books can be found in the suburbs).
59% of the customers plan to purchase a specific book when entering a bookstore.
--Book industry Study Group. Publishing for Profit by Tom Woll, page 170.
http://www.BISG.org
TWoll@aol.com
40% make impulse purchases.
--Book industry Study Group. Publishing for Profit by Tom Woll, page 170.
http://www.BISG.org
TWoll@aol.com
2002: Of the $23.7 billion spent on books, only $10.7 billion is spent in bookstores. The non-traditional outlets sell more books.
--Tami DePalma, Marketability.
twist@marketability.com
Borders 2002: opened 41 super stores for a total of 404.
Closed 53 Waldenbook stores and opened 4, leaving a total of 778.
8 new stores were opened overseas for a total of 30 super stores and 37 Books, Etc.
--Publishers weekly, March 17, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Book Purchases by Store Type
24.6% Large chain stores
17.7% Book Clubs
15.2% Smaller chains and independent stores.
5.4% Internet such as Amazon.com
--Book Industry Study Group.
http://www.BISG.org
2002: $450 million was spent on general-interest books at big-box stores such as Wal-Mart. That figure is up 7.4% from 2000. Costco and other price clubs are taking market share from the bookstores.
--Ipsos Book Trends, reported in The Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2003
Chain stores
2001 gross sales:
Barnes & Noble: $3.8 billion
Borders Group: $3.5 billion
Books-A-Million: $443 million
2002 gross sales:
Barnes & Noble: $3.7 billion
Borders Group: $3.4 billion
Books-A-Million: $443 million
--Publishers weekly, April 7, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Online Bookstores
Number of books sold online in 1999: 57 million.
--The Standard, October 23, 2000.
http://www.thestandard.com
In 2000, online sales were 5-10% of total book sales. 40% were fiction.
--The Standard, October 23, 2000.
http://www.thestandard.com
Amazon.com is Bantam-Doubleday-Dell's third largest customer.
--Michael Larsen, agent.
larsenpoma@aol.com
Amazon.com sells 5% of all books for $3 billion. Amazon.com is ranked among the top 50 brands in the world.
--Newsweek. April 9, 2001.
http://www.Newsweek.com
2002: Online bookstores sold 10% of the books.
-- The Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2003
Amazon had 35.9 million visitors in May 2003.
BarnesAndNoble.com had 7.9 million
--ComScores Networks, Inc. The Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2003
2002: Books were by far the best Internet seller. 43% of online shoppers purchased at least one book.
--Vertus Customer Focus (http://www.VertisInc.com) , reported in www.TargetOnLine.com (http://www.TargetOnLine.com)
American Booksellers Association (The independent bookstore organization). The chain stores are replacing the independents.
ABA membership was 5,132 in 1991. It fell to 4,047 in 1998.
--Business Week, June 29, 1998.
www.businessweek.com (http://www.businessweek.com)
Since 1993, ABA membership has dropped from 5,100 to 3,500 because the independent stores have been driven out of business.
--Chicago Tribune Magazine, May 31, 1998.
http://www.chicagotribune.com
ABA membership declined to 2,800 stores.
--Publishers Weekly, December 2001
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
ABA membership
2000: 2,794
2001: 2,191
2002: 1,900 (a loss of 30% in two years)
--Mitch Kaplan, vice-president American Booksellers Association.
http://www.bookweb.org
Only 100 stores joined the ABA in 2001 while 250-300 stores closed. Membership is now less than 2,200.
--PublishersLunch,
http://www.caderbooks.com
In April 2003, bookstore membership dropped 9% from a year earlier.
Total membership, including industry members and prospective booksellers, dropped 11.4%
Total membership was 2,643
--Publishers Weekly, September 22, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Covers, Book
Everyone judges a book by its cover.
On the average, a book store browser spends eight seconds looking at the front cover and 15 seconds looking at the back cover.
Sales Reps show covers or jackets and give a sales pitch that averages 14 seconds.
Also see 116: Book Cover Worksheet.
http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/allproducts.cfm
and
http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/supplier.cfm
Libraries
The library market was $3-billion in 1993.
68% of Baker & Taylor's sales are to libraries.
--Jerrold Jenkins,
http://www.JenkinsGroup.com
90% of the 15,000 public libraries in the US order (some) of their books through Baker & Taylor and spend more than $444 million on books annually.
--U.S. Department of Justice as reported in The Wall Street Journal, February 4, 1997.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
http://online.wsj.com/public/us *****
Libraries lose 20% of their books each year. Some books get past the security devices and others are just not returned.
Also see
http://www.ala.org
Book Fairs
The first ABA convention was in 1901.
--Chicago Tribune Magazine, May 31, 1998.
http://www.chicagotribune.com
The first ABA book fair was in 1947. For many years it was in the basement of the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC.
--Chicago Tribune Magazine, May 31, 1998.
http://www.chicagotribune.com
ABA/BEA Book Fair attendance was:
1996: 37, 464
1997: 25,732
1998: 25,672
In 2001, there were 2000 exhibitors
http://www.BookExpoAmerica.com
2003 BEA Survey
85% felt there was more floor traffic in New York 2002 than in Los Angeles in 2003.
62% said there was more traffic in Chicago in 2001 than in Los Angeles in 2002.
82% like moving the show from city to city.
61% prefer Chicago
21% favor Los Angeles
18% favor New York
--Bargain Book News
http://www.iMakeNews.com/BargainBookNews
The Frankfurt Book fair has 9,000 exhibitors.
http://www.frankfurt-book-fair.com/en/portal.html
Larger publishers send 2-3 acquisition editors to attend book fairs and otherwise canvas the country for previously (self) published books.
--Brian DeFiore, Maui Writers Conference.
http://www.defioreandco.com
75% of the floor space at the 1999 BEA book fair in Los Angeles was occupied by small presses and self-publishers.
Christian Booksellers Association Book Fair
Attendance:
2003: 10,902
2002: 13,129
International attendance:
2003: 708
2002: 1,039
Exhibitors:
2003: 477. 224 were book and Bible publishers. Exhibitor brought 1,000 fewer staff than in 2002.
2002: 496
2001: 515
--Christian Booksellers Association reported in Publishers Weekly, August 4, 2003
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
And see
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/digest2001/tables/dt425.asp
Copyright Infringement.
Global piracy losses to the U.S. book publishers estimated at $650.8 million in 2001.
--International Intellectual Property Alliance.
http://www.iipa.com/statistics.html
Writers and Authors
81% of the population feels they have a book inside them.
27% would write fiction.
28% would write on personal development
27% would write history, biography, etc.
20% would do a picture book, cookbook, etc.
6 million have written a manuscript.
6 million manuscripts are making the rounds.
Out of every 10,000 children's books, 3 get published.
--Jerrold Jenkins. 15 May 99.
http://www.JenkinsGroup.com
Santa Barbara has at least 384 published book authors. The population of the South Coast is about 175,000.
--Dan Poynter.
http://ParaPub.com
Subscribers to Writer's Digest magazine. Who are these writers?
25% are working on fiction or poetry.
Have been writing for 14.6 years on the average.
Each averages 12.6 hours/week writing.
--Advanced writers: 30.5 hours/week
--Intermediate writers: 11 hours/week
--Beginning writers: 7 hours/week
The average (mean) Writer's Digest subscriber is:
Female. 66.9%
47 years old.
Has .63 children.
Has completed 15.6 years of education.
Has a household income of $53,353.
Has a net worth of $238,178.
Writer's Digest Book Club members
--More than 50% of the members are writing fiction.
Retail Book Buyers/Readers
Women buy 68% of all books.
--Lou Aronica, Senior V-P Avon Books. Publishers Weekly, March 22, 1999.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
The median household income for book buyers is $41,600, compared to $35,300 for all adults.
--Bookselling This Week, November 10, 1997.
http://news.bookweb.org/
Men are more likely to shop in chain stores than women. Women are more likely to shop in discount stores and supermarkets than men.
--Publishers Weekly, May 12, 1997, page 13.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
$1.7 billion is spent annually on textbooks. $78 billion is spent on alcohol, $37 billion on cigarettes and $6 billion on pet food.
Also see
http://bookbuzz.com/bisg1998study.htm
In the U.S., 40-million people move their residence each year. This makes keeping up with address changes an expensive challenge.
--Target Marketing, March 2002.
http://www.TargetOnLine.com
How much do people like to pay?
28% $5 to $7.99. Presumably they are buying mostly mass-market paperbacks.
19% $3 to $.99
19% $10 to $14.99
19% $15 to $24.99
--2001 Consumer Research Study on Book Purchasing by the Book Industry Study Group,
http://www.bisg.org
Who is Reading Books (and who is not)
One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. Many do not even graduate from high school.
58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
42% of college graduates never read another book.
80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
57% of new books are not read to completion.
--Jerrold Jenkins.
http://www.JenkinsGroup.com
Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.
63% of adults report purchasing at least one book during the previous three-month period. (Most were probably exaggerating).
--Bookselling This Week, November 10, 1997.
http://news.bookweb.org/
53% read fiction, 43% nonfiction. The favorite fiction category is mystery & Suspense, 19%.
--Publishers Weekly, May 12, 1997, page 13.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Of the top fifty books, fiction outsells nonfiction about 60% to 40%. Fiction peaks in July at 70% but nonfiction reaches almost 50% in December.
--USA Today, April 30, 1999.
http://www.USAtoday.com
55% of fiction is bought by women; 45% by men.
--Publishers Weekly, May 12, 1997, page 13.
Thirty percent of Americans surveyed by the Harris Poll say they would rather read a book than do anything else; twenty-one percent said watching TV is their favorite activity. That's the good news. The bad news is that only 13 percent selected "spending time with family.
--Publishers Weekly email Daily, July 9, 1998.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Each day, people in the US spend 4 hours watching TV, 3 hours listening to the radio and 14 minutes reading magazines.
--Veronis, Suhler & Associates investment bankers
http://www.veronissuhler.com
70% of Americans haven't visited a bookstore in five (5) years.
--Michael Levine, June 2002
http://www.LevinPR.com
Customers 55 and older account for more than one-third of all books bought.
--2001 Consumer Research Study on Book Purchasing by the Book Industry Study Group,
http://www.bisg.org
People reduced their time reading between 1996 and 2001 to 2.1 hours/month.
2001: per capita spending on books per month was $7.18.
--Publishers Weekly, May 26, 2003
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Only 32% of the U.S. population has ever been in a bookstore.
--David Godine, Publisher.
The time Americans spend reading books.
1996: 123 hours
2001: 109 hours
--Veronis, Suhler & Associates investment bankers
http://www.veronissuhler.com
1996 to 2001
Consumer spending on book rose 16%
Unit sales dropped 6%
(Readers spend more and purchased fewer books)
--Veronis, Suhler & Associates investment bankers
http://www.veronissuhler.com
2001: Households purchasing at least one book 56.5%
--Veronis, Suhler & Associates investment bankers
http://www.veronissuhler.com
The mean age of book buyers
1997: Age 15-39: 26.5% of the books bought
2001: Age 15-39: 20.8% of the books bought
1997: Age over 55: 33.7% of the books bought.
2001: Age over 55: 44.1% of the books bought
--Ipsos NPD reported in Publishers Weekly, January 6, 2003
Literacy
1992: 20% of adults in the U.S. read at or below the fifth grade level.
--National Adult Literacy Survey reported in Publishers Weekly, January 6, 2003.
"Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half have never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half."
--Gore Vidal, author.
Mass-Media Use by Consumers, 1996.
Hours spent per year:
1,100: Broadcast TV. Increasing.
480: Cable TV. Increasing
250: Recorded music. Increasing.
180: Newspapers. Decreasing
90: Magazines. decreasing.
105: Books. Level.
65: Home video. Level.
10: Movies. Level.
-- Doreen Carvajal, The New York Times, August 24, 1997.
http://www.nytimes.com
Consumer Spending in 1996
$5.4 billion was spent on movies.
25.6 billion was spent on books.
Self-Help Books
The self-help book category came into its own in 1936 with the publication of Dale Carnegie's book How to Win Friends and Influence People. Today self-help sales are $538-million and account for one in ten titles sold.
--The Wall Street Journal, December 8, 1998.
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
1,818 self-help titles were published in 1997, generating $538 million.
--Simba Information as reported in USA Today.
http://www.simbanet.com
http://www.USAtoday.com
U.S. self-help books sell very well in Australia, moderately well in Japan and poorly in Britain. The majority of self-help books are purchased by women.
--Bob Miller, Group Publisher of Hyperion as reported in USA Today.
http://www.USAtoday.com
Fiction
5,000 novels, 200 first novels and 100 scripts are purchased each year.
--Ridley Pearson, Maui Writers Conference.
http://www.ridleypearson.com
Screenplays
A TV movie will be seen by 3-million people and will sell more books than a screen film.
--Andy Cohen, Maui Writers Conference.
GradeAProd@aol.com
Agents
Eighty percent of the books published by major houses come through agents.
--Michael Larsen, Literary Agent.
larsenpoma@aol.com
Advances
70% of the books published do not earn out their advance.
--Jerrold Jenkins, 15 May 99.
http://www.JenkinsGroup.com
70% of the books published do not make a profit.
--Jerrold Jenkins, 15 May 99.
http://www.JenkinsGroup.com
Many advances are between $1,500 and $7,500.
--Publishing for Profit by Tom Woll, page 109.
TWoll@aol.com
A typical advance for a computer book is $10,000.
--Chicago Tribune, June 21, 1998.
http://www.chicagotribune.com
Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf received an advance of more than $5 million from Bertlesmann; Gen. Colin Powell got $6.5 million from Newhouse, Former O.J. pall Paula Barbieri got $3.5 million from Time Warner. Simon & Schuster, Random House, and Penguin Putnam wrote off at least $100 million in unearned advances in 1996.
--Bookselling This Week, October 6, 1997.
http://news.bookweb.org/
Large advances for books that flopped: Journey to Justice by Johnnie Cochran, Ballantine paid a reported $3.5 million; Behind the Oval Office by Dick Morris, Random House paid an estimated $2.5 million; Leading with my Chin by Jay Leno, HarperCollins paid a reported $4 million.
--The Wall Street Journal, May 29, 1997.
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
Royalties
The average royalty is 10.7% of net.
--John Huenefeld. Publishing for Profit by Tom Woll, page 121.
TWoll@aol.com
Reviews
LA Times receives 600 to 700 books for review each week.
--Steve Wasserman, book review editor.
http://www.latimes.com
Websites
"We put up a dictionary in 1996, free for everyone and knowing that words people look up fascinate us. The web site has helped the company reinforce its brand with a 17% increase in sales.
--John Morse, president and publisher, Merriam-Webster. Publishers Weekly, December 2001
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Note: The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary is the bestselling hardcover book in U.S. history. It has sold 55-million copies since it first appeared in 1898.
Bestsellers
Bestsellers accounted for 3% of the sales at Barnes & Noble in 1997.
--Business Week, June 29, 1998.
http://www.BusinessWeek.com
64% of book buyers say a book's being on a bestseller list is not important.
--Publishers Weekly, May 12, 1997, page 13.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Last spring (1999) an uneasy Authors Guild, which had spent more than a year looking into these trends, released its report on midlist publishing. It laboriously toted up the figures for the top fiction and nonfiction titles on the Publishers Weekly annual bestseller list, then showed how those 30 megabooks suck up a growing proportion of sales. In 1986, the bestsellers accounted for about 7 percent of all adult hardcover trade book sales; a decade later they accounted for 13 percent. In 1999, applying the same methodology, the proportion reached nearly 15 percent.
http://www.AuthorsGuild.org
In 1975, the bestselling book was E.L. Doctorow's "Ragtime. It sold 232,000 books. In 2000, John Grisham's "The Brethren" sold 2.8 million books.
--National Arts Journalism Program,
http://www.NAJP.org
Nearly all bestsellers come from five publishing conglomerates.
--National Arts Journalism Program,
http://www.NAJP.org
2002 Bestsellers by Corporation
Hardcover
Random House: 64
Penguin Putnam: 41
Simon & Schuster: 29
Time Warner: 30
Harper-Collins: 22
Von Holtzbrink: 18
Hyperion: 15
Soft cover
Random House: 63
Penguin Putnam: 48
Simon & Schuster: 28
Time Warner: 19
Harper-Collins: 30
Von Holtzbrink: 12
Hyperion: 5
--Publishers Weekly, January 13, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
2003. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling.
630 Barnes & Noble stores sold 286,000 copies in the first hour; 896,000 the first day.
1,200 Borders and Walden stores sold 750,000 copies in the first 23 hours; the highest first-day sales in its history.
In the UK, WHSmith sold 120,000 the first day. 31,500 postmen were needed to delver the book in England.
5-million copies were sold the first day, shattering all records.
--The Wall Street Journal, June 2003.
2003. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling.
9.3 million copies were in print the initial week.
750,000 audiobooks were in print the initial week.
Amazon.com sold the $29.99 book for $12.00
Amazon.com shipped 789,000 the first day.
--Publishers Weekly, June 30, 2003.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Harry Potter Bestsellers
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: 25.1 million
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: 22 million
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: 16.7 million
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: 16.3 million
The books have been published in 55 languages and distributed in more than 200 countries.
--The Wall Street Journal, January 16, 2003
For bestseller lists between 1900 and 1995, see
http://www.caderbooks.com/bestintro.html
Also see
http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/information/promote.cfm
Returns
Books are displayed in bookstores for one selling season of four months. Those books that do not sell are returned for a refund. Yes, books may be "gone today, here tomorrow."
Returns are 21-23% for larger publishers according to the AAP.
--Tom Woll in Publishing for Profit.
http://www.publishers.org/industry/index.cfm
TWoll@aol.com
Barnes & Noble had a return rate of 28% for all categories of books in 1996 and 19% in 1997.
--Publishers Weekly Interactive. March 30, 1998.
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
Returns were 23% in 1993.
--Jerrold Jenkins.
http://www.JenkinsGroup.com
http://www.JenkinsGroup.com
The 1997 return rate for new adult trade hardcover books was 36.7% according to the AAP.
--PW Interactive. March 30, 1998.
http://www.publishers.org/industry/index.cfm
http://www.PublishersWeekly.com
A return rate of 15% is considered very good.
--Publishing for Profit by Tom Woll, page 76.
TWoll@aol.com
35% worth of the adult hardcovers shipped to retailers in 1996 were returned in 1996 according to the AAP. The rate was 32% in 1995.
--The Wall Street Journal, May 29, 1997.
http://www.publishers.org/industry/index.cfm
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
Sell-Through. Independent stores sell over 80% of the books they order. Superstores sell 70% of the books they order. Discounters such as Wal-Mart and Sam's Club sell about 60%.
--The Wall Street Journal, May 29, 1997.
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
The industry return rate is 36.3% for hardcover and 25% for soft. B&N returns 19%.
--Brill's Content, July/August 1998.
2002: 37% of the books sent to stores were returned.
www.electronic-publishing.com (http://www.electronic-publishing.com)
Harper-Collins lost more than $250 million in a single year just on returns.
--The New York Times, reported in Booktech the Magazine, March/April 2002
Up to 40% of all books manufactured never sell. Most publishers would rather suffer the costs of over-runs and returns than run short of a title.
--Booktech the Magazine, March/April 2002