Re: sales by segment

Tony Burton:
>
> I think you touched on a couple of very important points, but they  
> are the kind that can be
> deceiving.  The figures are there, re: the sales dollars.  But you  
> have to also consider the
> cost of the individual book.
>
> As someone who was once upon a time in the technical arena (for  
> YEARS), I bought many
> professional books that were priced anywhere from $49.95 to  
> $179.95-- things that were
> necessary to my job or to advancing in my field.  (Look around in  
> the computer reference
> area of Barnes and Noble sometime.)  I guess we have to understand  
> that, even though the
> professional books sales may be much higher than we like to think  
> (we lovers of fiction!),
> the thing that may salve the wound is that, for the cost of a  
> single professional book, you
> could usually pick up at least 3 or 4 novels, and probably twice  
> that many if you buy trade
> paperbacks.
>

In response to my:

>>
>> Sorry for the delay, but I haven't had time to look up some figures
>> until now.
>>
>>  From the BISG 2007 report:
>>
>> Total US 2006 book sales: $38 billion
>>
>>
>> Trade sales, including juvenile and adult/hb, tpb, and mpb/fiction
>> and NON-fiction: $14.5 billion
>>
>> NB: Almost ALL fiction is included in trade. And it's generally (from
>> memory) about 45% of TRADE sales. Which are less than 40% of total
>> sales.
>>
>> Now, this feels WRONG to most book lovers, because what we love is
>> usually novels. BUT, but, but -- there are other segments, including
>> Religious ($2.4 billion, and this includes the only non-trade
>> fiction), Professional ($9 billion), UP ($0.5 billion), El-Hi ($4.7
>> billion), College ($4.6 billion), and Testing ($2.4 billion)
>>

If you're looking at number of copies, you're right to a point. If  
you're looking at number of TITLES, you're even more right, because  
of course the vast number of vanity press (aka "POD publisher," "on- 
line self-publishing company" or "author-focused publishing") titles  
are fiction, and they, collectively, sell a miniscule amount. And  
there are other, small publishers and true self-publishers who also  
publish fiction, and sell larger but still small amounts.

But even so, when you're talking about maybe $7 billion out of $38  
billion, the end result doesn't change. The average cost of a non- 
fiction book of all types would have to be more than **5 times** what  
the cost of a novel is for them to draw even. Let's say that the  
average cost of a novel, weighted by volume, is $10. The average,  
weighted by number of titles, would be more like $12. (Educated  
guesses, but probably not TOO far off.) I don't think the average  
price of non-fiction is $50 to $60, when you include trade,  
religious, professional, textbooks and testing.

The book business is like an iceberg. Most of it is hard to see until  
you run into it.

Marion Gropen
Gropen Associates, Inc.
By-The-Question Consulting, Inexpensive Tools for Small Presses, and  
Classes.
For info, visit http://www.GropenAssoc.com or call (888) 3GROPEN
NEW: Marion's BLOG has moved to her site. Come ask her your questions!




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