Booknolia

In 2006, U.S. customers spent $56 billion for over 3 billion new and used books. They are between 25 and 54 with a female skew, educated and affluent, highly vocal, loyal and are more likely to engage in participatory reading activities.

Who writes these books? The 3 million authors in the U.S. who write more than 185,000 new titles annually. Who publishes them? Over 62,000 small, medium and large publishing houses with net annual revenues of $36 billion in 2006. There’s world of authors, agents, publishers, distributors, and booksellers working almost seamlessly such that we get to read the books we like.

How did all this come about? Read about it in Epstein’s short book “Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future” which reads like a personal memoir with focus on book publishers. His many years in the industry qualifies him perfectly to talk about the past and the present as well as giving him the vision to speculate on the future of this non-linear industry.

Until 2006, publishers’ sales statistics did not include smaller publishers with under $50 million in annual sales. The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) changed all that. BISG’s latest publication, Book Trends 2007, estimates that total publishers’ net revenues in 2006 reached $35.7 billion, up 3.2% over 2005’s total, and that unit sales in 2006 exceeded 3.1 billion. TRENDS projections show revenues reaching nearly $42 billion and units at 3.24 billion by the end of 2011. TRENDS 2007 which covers the entire U.S. book publishing industry is pricy ($875) if you are not a member of the group but you pay $125 if you are a member.

If you like books, you’ll love Booknolia!

Stay tuned…