Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Philosophische Fakultät/Buchwissenschaft

HS Bookmarkets in Germany and in English-speaking countries

SS 2008

Concentration processes on the U.S. book market

Autor: Björn Kohlhepp

Contents

Introduction 3

Subject of this Paper 3

Sources 3

1

Key figures of the U.S. book market 4

1.1 The overall book market 4

1.2 Publishing 5

1.3 Retailing 6

1.4 Distribution 7

2

Concentration on the U.S. book market 7

2.1 Publishing 7

2.1.1

Trade books 7

2.1.2

Total publishing 8

2.2 Retailing 9

2.2.1

Bookstores 9

2.2.2

Online retailing 12

2.2.3

Book clubs 12

2.3 Distribution 13

3

Conclusion 14

2

Introduction

Subject of this Paper

This paper will treat the theme of consolidation processes on the U.S. book market.

Concentration within the book industry of course is an international phenomenon but the U.S.

are of certain interest as they boast the by far largest book market in the world1. Moreover, the

concentration on this book market has reached a very high level and is certainly one of the

highest in comparison with international book markets. And developments on U.S. markets in

general often tend to influence or to anticipate those of other countries.

To begin with, there shall be given an overiew over basic figures of the U.S. book market.

Subsequently, concentration processes in all of the three branches of the book industry shall

be examined ­ with a focus on the publishing and retailing business.

Sources

As there doesn′t seem to be an American correspondence to the German

Buch und

Buchhandel in Zahlen

with annual statistics covering the whole U.S. book market2, the

research on more current figures of the American book market ­ at least from Germany ­

turned out to be to a large extent dependend on research on the world wide web. Hence, a

majority of sources used in this paper are online sources. The search was quite toiling though

and existing statistics about certain areas of the book market often show different figures

depending on the source ­ sometimes explainably, sometimes not.

The statement of JOHN DESSAUER dating from 1981, that the book industry research in the

U.S. doesn′t have a good reputation, seems to be still true even if improvements as the

foundation of the

Book Industry Study Group

(BISG) have been made.3 At least, if nothing

else, the accessibility of comprehensive information leaves much to be desired.

One very helpful source for getting an overview of the current American book market is

the website

www.bookstatistics.com

. There, an author and publisher continously gathers any

kind of information about the U.S. book market and also states the respective sources.

1 Cf. BÖRSENBLATT. Website: Amerikaner lesen sieben Bücher im Jahr. URL: http://www.boersenblatt.net/-

159189/ [08.27.2007 / 05.02.2008].

2 One rather expensive, but promising annual publication,

Book Industry Trends

by the Book Industry Study

Group, was ­ at least regarding the ones for the years after 2003 ­ impossible to get hold of in Germany. The

table of contents provided online for the 2007 issue indicates a focus on the publishing industry.

3

Another quite helpful source in this respect showed to be the website of the magazine

Publisher′s Weekly

,

www.publishersweekly.com

. As a third one shall be mentioned the

magazine

Buchreport

, especially its weekly version

Buchreport.express

, regularly featuring

articles about the book market in the USA.

As to a survey covering the overall American book market, the latest one I could find or

get hold of respectively was the work

Book Publishing USA

by ODA / SANISLO4. This study

served mainly as a reference for comparisons between the situation today and an earlier one.

1 Key figures of the U.S. book market

1.1 The overall book market

Unfortunately, I didn′t come across figures about the turnover of the whole U.S. book

industry. Only about the respective sales of publishers and retailers which shall be stated and

commented on below.

In 20065, the output of new titles and editions reached the number of 291,922, representing

an increase of 3.3% compared to the output in 2005. "This rise reverses the title output drop

experienced in 2005, which came after seven years of increases and a peak of 295,523 new

titles issued in 2004."6 Interesting about this is that Bowker from 2005 has used a new

methodology ­ adding books in unclassified categories; ones that didn′t include prices and

had nontraditional bindings ­, leading to numbers far higher than in previous statistics. The

original estimate for 2005 for example was about 175,000 new titles and editions.7 Bowker

obviously employed the new methodology also to preceding years. Comparing the previous

figures, the title output showed an increase of 83% between 1993 and 2004 (up from 104,124

to 190,078).8 Some 30 percent of the new titles printed in 2005 "were printed in quantities of

less than 100 units."9

3 Cf. DESSAUER, JOHN P.: Buchmarkt-Forschung in den USA. In: DORSCH, PETRA E. / TECKENTRUP, KONRAD H.

(eds.): Buch und Lesen International. Berichte und Analysen zum Buchmarkt und zur Buchmarkt-Forschung.

Gütersloh 1981, p. 665.

4 ODA, STEPHANIE / SANISLO, GLENN: Book Publishing USA ­ Facts, Figures, Trends, Factors Shaping the US

Book Industry 2000­2001. London / Frankfurt/M. 2001.

5 There shall always be stated the latest figures I could get which might lead to a certain nonuniformity.

6 R. R. BOWKER. Website: Bowker Reports U.S. Book Production Rebounded Slightly in 2006. URL:

http://www.bowker.com/index.php/press-releases-2007/146 [05.31.2007 / 05.05.2008].

7 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. Website: Title Output up. URL: http://www.publishersweekly.com/-

article/CA6452640.html [06.18.2007 / 05.05.2008].

8 Cf. BOOKWIRE. Website. URL: http://www.bookwire.com/bookwire/decadebookproduction.html [05.07.2008].

9 WARD, NOEL. Quoted on URL: http://www.bookstatistics.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm [July 2006 /

05.07.2008].

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