At a “State of the Industry” workshop, I learned the following:
Industry trends are hard to predict as new technology continues to develop
Example: i Phone
XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a hot topic in the publishing industry. The discussions regarding electronic publishing and having a standardized format are on the fore-front.
Technology dominates discussions on book industry changes. Publishers are spending mass dollars on digital avenues. Landscape of publishing is changing dramatically.
A caveat from the instructor “The only constant is change.”
The publishing industry will continue to change and evolve over time to meet the demands of readers and to keep up with the changing technologies.
Some interesting statistics in relation to how the book industry has already evolved and the impact of technology on the industry:
Sixty years ago there were 350 publishers producing 85,000 books annually.
Today, there are 70.000 publishers producing 175,000 books annually.
In the competitive landscape, editors no longer have time to languish on new authors. There is intense competition in the marketplace.
On a different technology front, the blogging industry is getting biger and bigger and more influential. Blogging is prominent now in the publishing world and one can only guess how it will develop, grow, and open up new opportunities in the future.
A few more stats from The Book Industry Study Group:
For 2006, publishing net revenues for all books = 35.68 Billion (this represents an increase over 2005) Estimates for 2011 = 41.84 Billion.
For 2006, Mass Market (most popular for Romance) net revenue = 1.89 Billion. Projections for 2011 = 2.2 Billion.
While the growth predictions are modest, the fact is, it is projected to grow.
Advice from speakers: “Write the best book possible.” “Be a smart, savvy promoter to give your book its best chance possible.”
The romance category represents 55% of paperback sales and 40% of all fiction sold.
Current top sellers in romance are Paranormal, Inspirational, and Erotica.
In the library world: Today’s library wants to grow the technology, but libraries are still widely known for housing print publications.
The Library Journal Magazine publishes a romance section six times a year. (aprox. 170 books reviewed.) In the past year, Historicals represented sixty of the 170 titles reviewed. 35 were Contemporary, 9 were Erotica, and 35 were Paranormals.
Libraries buy mainly through wholesalers, spending millions of dollars each year. They are definitely an audience and more and more publishers are recognizing the library as such.
A famous quote, “Libraries do not sell books, but they peddle them.”
Libraries maintain archives of books. A great place to find back lists. More and more libraries are developing websites with reader lists and search engines.
50% of library book budgets are spent on fiction. This is an increase, non-fiction title purchases used to be higher.
Fiction categories with the largest circulations are Mystery, Romance, and Christian Fiction. Growing in popularity are Multicultural, Urban Fiction, and Erotica.
Libraries love to sponsor book programs, talks, and other activities. Do not discount this avenue when exploring ways to gain readership.
I hope you find some, or all, of this information helpful to have. I'll continue to post learnings from the conference over the next few weeks.... Enjoy!
Hugs,
Barb
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