From Jan Nathan, PMA October 2005: DID YOU KNOW

That during the year 2004, there were 375,000 new titles published in English-speaking countries? According to a new press release by the RR Bowker Company, Anglo-American publishers published 80% of all new English-language books in 2004, whithe the U.S. accounted for 52% of the total. Now this is just new books, remember, not counting any of the evergreen backlist that many of our member publishers count as their active backlist.

Adult fiction, poetry, drama and literary criticism accounted for 18% of the new and children's/young adult had a 12% share of the new titles; and science and technology a 9% share. Continuing their downward spiral were computer books, showing a 14% decrease from 2003. Both religion and travel saw a double-digit increase, while history, sociology, economics and education experienced declines.

Plot Twists In Store
Writers, Retailers Team Up to Push Their Own Agendas
By David Segal

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 12, 2005; Page C01

BROOKLYN, N.Y.

Standing on a fashion show catwalk, Wendy Shanker is warming up a crowd that has come for an in-store glimpse of Macy's latest outfits for spring. At 5 feet 7 and 220 pounds, Shanker is not the sort of woman you typically associate with models or glamour or capri pants. She doesn't sound like one either.

"A lot of people don't like the word 'fat,' " she says into a microphone, on a makeshift runway set up in the women's department. "I'm fat. It doesn't describe who I am. I'm the same as everybody else. I just wear bigger pants."

This gets a chuckle from the audience, many of whom are just as big, or bigger. This is a plus-size fashion show, with models from size 14 on up. But this event is about more than just clothing in very generous proportions. It's also, weirdly enough, a book party, and Shanker is an author, doing what a woman has to do today to get her book sold.

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A Capital Time For Books

An estimated 75,000 people turned out at the third annual National Book Festival Oct. 4 to see and hear more than 80 authors read, discuss and sign their work along Washington, D.C.'s National Mall. The free-to-the-public daylong event was hosted by Laura Bush and organized by the Library of Congress, supported by a corps of volunteers that included Library employees and members of the Junior League of Washington.

Mrs. Bush came fresh from a state visit to Europe that included a stop at a national Russian book festival in Moscow for school librarians, hosted by that country’s first lady, Lyudmila Putin. The Russian event was the first of its kind and was inspired by last year's National Book Festival, at which Putin was Bush's honored guest.

" Our history is a great story, patched together piece by piece," Bush said. "By reading together and sharing stories we become part of the fabric of the American community." Bush went on to express her great personal connection to books, as well, adding "A good book is like an unreachable itch; you just can’t leave it alone."

Throughout the day, crowds packed into tents to hear authors including Wally Lamb, Catherine Coulter, Walter Isaacson, Pat Conroy, Avi. Mary Pope Osborne touched on a recurring theme when she said, "I'm very moved by this event. The spirit here is so amazing—bi-partisan, so to speak. You get the sense that the Library of Congress was always waiting for someone to come in and celebrate books and reading like this."

Pat Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers spoke enthusiastically about the event's growth over the past two years. "We finally got it more spread out onto the Mall," she cheered. " Now we just need to fix one more glitch—the book sales tent." Laws prohibit the sale of certain goods for profit on government property, making it hard to buy books at the event.

" This is a wonderful event," said James Patterson. "But you could easily quadruple the number of people here if you could just find the right way to get the word out about the power of stories. Somebody's got to tell the story of books—to capture the hearts and minds of the American people."

--Shannon Maughan -From Publisher's Weekly on line newsletter 10/6/03

For Chain Stores, Comparisons Finally Favorable

The nation's two largest booksellers have something they haven't had in a long time -- good news to report. After several successive quarters of slogging through a weak book market, Barnes & Noble and Borders Group today both reported significant sales gains in their second quarters. They posted increases not only in total revenue, but also in same store sales, a more telling indication of how the retailers are performing. The improved results echo those disclosed by Books-A-Million yesterday.

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LARGE PUBLISHERS DOWN; SMALL PUBLISHERS UP

New titles from the big New York publishers declined 5% last year, mostly in adult fiction and travel. Title output was up 5.8% overall for a total of 150,000 titles. University press title output was up 10% over 2001. More than 10,000 new publishing companies were established in 2002; there are 73,000 publishers nationwide. OTOH, the big five publishers in New York accounted for 45% of the market share.

"Remember, the key to selling a lot of books is persistent promotion. Most authors and publishers give up too soon. This is a huge mistake! It takes time to build up word-of-mouth. Don't think about promoting your book for just a few months. Decide to promote your book aggressively for at least a
year!"

-Mark Victor Hansen
Co-author of the best-selling series
Chicken Soup for the Soul ® and other books

Who is Really a Publisher?
Pat Bell

In the Beginning

Once, it was easy to get the answer to "Who's really a publisher?" In classical times, an author or poet simply paid a scribe to make copies of a work for circulation. In more recent years, particularly during the 19th and 20th centuries, book publishers (our main interest here) were companies that paid authors for the right to publish the authors' work.

Some authors, however, paid for their books to be published. Firms that did this sort of publishing were dubbed "vanity presses" by others in the industry because of the belief that authors were "vain" if they wanted to see their work in print so much that they were willing to pay for it. There was considerable stigma attached to books from vanity presses, which became notorious for demanding big sums of money in return for very little output. As a rule, bookstores and libraries would not buy books with those imprints.

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Subsidy Publishing vs. Self-Publishing: What's the Difference?
by Moira Allen

You've written a book. It's a great book. You know it's needed, that people would buy it. But you can't persuade a commercial publisher to agree. So now you're considering investing your own money to have the book published.

When you look at advertisements for "publishing," however, matters become confusing. Many "Publish Your Book" ads look alike -- yet some are for subsidy publishers and others are for printing companies that help authors "self-publish" their work. How can you tell them apart?

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DrNunley's Biz-Tips
by Kevin Nunley

Don't Rush Marketing!

Marketing works best when it isn't rushed. The best advertising media require you to place your order well in advance. Great designers, writers, and (especially!) TV production firms are usually booked weeks into the future.

Quality. As you can quickly see, you get better quality when you don't rush your marketing. A top writer can take several weeks to write your sales letter. We've worked 7 days a week to improve the speed for good writing, but long copy can take a professional writer several days of full-time work to complete. Many expert designers like to flesh out several versions of your ad, web site look, or logo before deciding on the best. That, too, takes time.

INTERWEAVE PRESS of Loveland, Colo., is the type of publisher that the Book Industry Study Group believes is not represented in traditional measurements of the size of the publishing industry. The publisher is part of a larger company, and the majority of its sales are generated by channels outside of bookstores. These are the kinds of publishers that, according to BISG's new report, "Under the Radar," generate billions of dollars of sales that are not included in statistics compiled by the Association of American Publishers or even BISG's own Trends study.

According to "Under the Radar" findings, about 63,000 publishers with sales of less than $50 million generate annual revenue of about $14.2 billion, and the majority of that revenue--about $11.5 billion--come from publishers with sales between $1 million and $49'9 million. Jeff Abraham, executive director of BISG, said that while some of that revenue is represented in current industry sales estimates--which puts total revenue at between $23.7 billion and $28.5 billion--a significant portion is not. "We've always heard anecdotal stories about how much activity occurs outside of traditional book publishing and bookselling. This study tries to quantify how much," Abraham said.

The study, conducted by InfoTrends, found that about 34% of the sales of publishers in the study come from bookstores and book wholesalers (including only 3.3% from the chains), although book wholesalers were found to be the fastest growing channel. Nonbook wholesalers, which service accounts such as health stores and sporting goods stores, represent about 20% of sales, while sales through catalogues contribute about 10% of revenue. In addition to wholesalers, the fastest growing segments were online retailers and direct-to-consumer.

Abraham knows that the "Under the Radar" findings challenge many industry assumptions, so he plans to put together an industry taskforce that will work on a process that can combine the results of the report with traditional industry measurements. He sees the study "as a good first step" in better understanding the size of the book market.

Subsidy Publishing vs. Self-Publishing: What's the Difference?
by Moira Allen

You've written a book. It's a great book. You know it's needed, that people would buy it. But you can't persuade a commercial publisher to agree. So now you're considering investing your own money to have the book published.

When you look at advertisements for "publishing," however, matters become confusing. Many "Publish Your Book" ads look alike -- yet some are for subsidy publishers and others are for printing companies that help authors "self-publish" their work. How can you tell them apart?

Some Definitions
A commercial publisher distributes books under its own imprint. It purchases manuscripts from authors, and handles the cost of producing those manuscripts: Cover and interior design, typesetting, printing, marketing, distribution, etc. The author is not expected to pay any of these costs. The books are owned by the publisher and remain in the publisher's possession until sold; the author receives a portion of sales in the form of royalties.

A subsidy publisher also distributes books under its own imprint. However, it does not purchase manuscripts; instead, it asks authors to pay for the cost of publication. With the exception of certain types of publishers such as university or scholarly presses, any publisher that requests a fee from the author is a subsidy publisher. As with commercial publishers, the books are owned by the publisher and remain in the publisher's possession; authors receive royalties.

A self-publisher is an author who pays for the cost of designing, printing, and distributing his or her book. Frequently, the author invents and registers a publishing "imprint." Self-published books are the property of the author and usually remain in the author's possession; all sales proceeds belong to the author.

A "printer" or "book producer" is a firm that works with self-publishing authors to produce professional-quality books. To confuse the issue, some printers call themselves "publishers," but are not publishers in the traditional sense of the word. Instead, they offer a range of book production services (such as design, typesetting, and printing), and may also offer marketing, distribution, warehousing and fulfillment services. ("Fulfillment" includes order processing, book shipping, and customer invoicing.)

Whether you self-publish or use a subsidy publisher, you need to know what types of services you are paying for. Be sure to ask the following questions before signing any contract:

1. Who owns the book? Subsidy houses not only charge for their design, printing, and distribution services, they also claim various rights to your book. Printers and book producers charge only for their services; all rights to your book remain with you.
2. Will I receive royalties or all sales proceeds? If the answer is "royalties," you're dealing with a subsidy house. Subsidy publishers pay authors a standard royalty of around 10-15% (which may be based on the retail price of the book or upon a discounted price). When you self-publish, you receive all sales proceeds (although this does not necessarily translate into profit).
3. Where will the books be housed? A subsidy publisher will retain all books except for a few "author copies." A printer or book producer will give you the option of storing the books yourself, or paying for warehousing. In either case, the books belong to you. (Warehousing is a good option if you are using the printer's fulfillment and shipping services.)
4. How much control do I have over the production process? With commercial and subsidy publishers, the author's input usually ends with the delivery of the manuscript. In self-publishing, you have complete creative control over the development of your product. A book producer will offer you a menu of services; you pay only for those you need. If, for example, you're experienced in desktop publishing, you might choose to design your own interior layout, but contract for an artist to handle the cover. You should be able to review and approve any suggested designs, layouts, fonts, etc.
5. Who sends books to reviewers, and who pays for it? Some subsidy publishers may ask you for a list of potential reviewers; others have their own lists. If you want additional books sent out, however, you will usually have to pay for them -- at 40% or more of the cover price of your book. If you self-publish, sending out review copies is entirely your responsibility, but since the books already belong to you, you won't pay anything "extra" for those copies.
6. Who handles marketing and advertising? In this case, regardless of whether you choose subsidy or self-publishing, the answer is "you." Subsidy publishers include "marketing" as one of the services you're paying for, but generally do little beyond placing a small "tombstone" ad in a major newspaper. It is up to you to determine what your target market is and how to reach it, and up to you to pay the costs of reaching that market. A key question to ask yourself, therefore, is whether the benefits of a marketing campaign outweigh the costs, based on whether you receive all sales proceeds or only a percentage in royalties.
7. What is the cost? Neither subsidy publishing nor self-publishing is cheap; both will cost you thousands of dollars. Subsidy publishing requires a large investment up front; self-publishing may involve a smaller initial payment (the cost of producing and printing your book), but also involves the ongoing costs of marketing, publicity, warehousing, book packaging and shipping, and so forth. Your first question, therefore, should be whether you can afford to finance your book at all; your second should be "what do I want to get for my money?"

Financing your book is never a decision to be made lightly. Unless you have money to burn, it should never be made on the basis of ego: The desire to see your name in print no matter what the cost. For those who have studied the market and developed a professional product, however, "doing it yourself" has often proven an effective (and even profitable) way to bring a good book to life.

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