SIC 2731 Book Publishing

Encyclopedia of American Industries | 2005 | Copyright

SIC 2731
BOOK PUBLISHING

This category includes establishments primarily engaged in publishing, or in publishing and printing, books and pamphlets. Establishments primarily engaged in printing or in printing and binding (but not publishing) books and pamphlets are classified in SIC 2732: Book Printing .

NAICS Code(s)

511130 (Book Publishing)

512230 (Music Publishing)

Industry Snapshot

The book publishing industry experienced extraordinary growth from 1963 to 1993, with annual book sales of $1.68 billion in 1963 rising to $17.17 billion by 1993. In 1998 American consumers spent $23 billion on books, according to the Association of American Publishers. Sales reached $25.0 billion in 2000 and remained virtually unchanged in 2001. The most significant categories accounting for book sales in 2001 were trade (including adult and juvenile titles) with $6.37 billion in sales, down 2.6 percent from 2000; professional and scholarly, with $4.74 billion (down 7.6 percent); elementary-high school (el-hi) texts and materials with $4.18 billion (up 7.8 percent); higher education, with $3.47 billion (up 7.2 percent); mass market paperbacks, with $1.5 billion (down 0.8 percent); book clubs, with $1.33 billion (up 3.3 percent); and religious publications, with $1.31 billion (up 1.3 percent).

Books sales are driven by a number of factors. Favorable demographics have contributed to sales growth in such categories as adult trade, children's books, college texts, and el-hi sales. Publishers have found support in a growing literate population with high disposable personal incomes. Other factors affecting sales of different categories include school enrollments and state funding for school-related books. With a growing number of high school graduates and more targeted marketing programs, college sales have been strong. Children's book sales have benefited from merchandising tie-ins with movies and television shows. Demand for adult trade books reflects strong best-seller lists and other factors.

During the 1990s, two noteworthy developments changed the way consumers purchase books and had a positive impact on book sales. One development was the early 1990s proliferation of large retail bookstore chains. By offering conveniences such as comfortable browsing areas, coffee bars, and special events such as book-signings, author readings, and children's story hours, these chains created "superstores" that provided an enjoyable atmosphere for consumers while expanding the overall market for books. The two biggest players that emerged in this arena were Borders Group Inc. and Barnes & Noble Inc. Another development, which occurred in the late 1990s, was the growth of online bookselling, pioneered by Amazon.com. It was not long before both Barnes & Noble and Borders Books & Music had established Web sites to offer books over the Internet. In 1999 Barnes & Noble raised $25 million by spinning off barnesandnoble.com as a separate, publicly traded company while maintaining a 37 percent interest in it.

Organization and Structure

In some respects, book publishing appeared to be a fragmented industry, with more than 25,000 companies participating in the United States in the early 2000s. In reality, however, the industry has been dominated by a handful of giant publishing houses. At times, these players have controlled as much as 85 percent of the overall U.S. book publishing market. These large publishers consolidated many of their smaller imprints in the 1990s in order to cut costs and reposition themselves for the onset of electronic publishing. According to Malcolm Jones of Publishers Weekly, most of these companies considered themselves to operate within "the publishing aspect of the communications industry." However, this concentration of power among relatively few publishers led to criticism regarding the quality and diversity of materials published. Industry observers saw an increasing role for small presses to publish works of literary quality that did not necessarily have enormous sales potential. Because of the proliferation of smaller publishers, the book publishing industry is not highly concentrated compared to other industries. In many categories there are relatively few barriers to entry.

Products within the book publishing industry could be divided into six major categories: adult trade; juvenile trade; mass market; professional, technical, and reference; university press; and religious books. Trade books, representing the largest share of the book market, encompassed all general-interest publications, such as adult and juvenile fiction, nonfiction, advice, and how-to books. In 2001, the trade category had net dollar sales of more than $6.37 billion according to the Association of American Publishers. In the mass market paperback category, publishers' net dollar sales were $1.6 billion in 2001, compared to $1.5 billion in 1998 and $1.4 billion in 1995; net dollar sales for professional titles reached $4.7 billion in 2001, up from $4.4 billion in 1998 and almost $3.9 billion in 1995. The expansion of large chain bookstores and the population growth among school-age children and high-income adults were among the factors that contributed to the growth of these sales.

The book publishing process was fairly similar across these product categories. Most books originated as a concept or idea, which was either submitted by an outside author or generated internally by the publisher. The concept was usually refined using market analysis, and the final decision to proceed resulted from a comparison of the product's expected costs and potential revenues. Such decisions were increasingly made by committee consensus versus the decree of one individual editor. Next came the actual compilation of the book's content, followed by editorial work to ensure its quality and tailor it specifically to a target market. Meanwhile, the marketing and art departments designed the finished product, including type style, page size and layout, presentation of graphics, and appearance of the cover. Then the book was typeset...

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