Book Publishing is Very Competitive
By Jerry D. Simmons | March 4th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)

Let me share some numbers to illustrate the competitive nature of publishing in the US: 350,000—950—35,000—6—95—70,000—6,000— 125,000—& 60.

* It is estimated there are 350,000 new titles published every year in this country,
* That breaks down to more than 950 new titles published each day,
* The major New York houses publish approximately 35,000 new titles each year,

* There are 6 major publishers in the US of which 5 are foreign owned,
* All six major publishers represent about 95 percent of total books sales in the US,
* It is estimated there are over 70,000 small and niche publishers,

* There are around 6,000 traditional main stream booksellers in the US,
* Large mega-bookstores typically inventory about 125,000 individual titles, and
* The only number that should matter to an author is their percent of sale, and that benchmark is 60 percent.

If an author under contract to one of the large New York publishers and sells at least 60 percent of the total number of copies shipped, they can have a very nice career as an author.

Now you get a picture of the competitive nature of book publishing.

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