Publishing House Research

American Business Media

American Business Media is an association serving business-to-business information providers, including print producers; non-members can access many of its resources for free, notably Business Information Network, a monthly report on b-to-b print ad spending and pages. Other resources include white papers in areas such as marketing and HR, and guidelines for international publishing. One of the more recent is a member survey on the role of the editor. ABM offers a monthly e-newsletter with industry data and research, and a monthly report on b-to-b print ad spending. The B-to-B Media Handbook is a free guidebook for advertisers, available for download.
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Communications Industry Forecast & Report
published by Veronis Suhler Stevenson

This report on the U.S. communications industry provides industry-level statistics for historical expenditures, spending projections, and financial performance by segment, using data from public companies. It has chapters on newspaper publishing, consumer book publishing, and consumer magazine publishing, as well as chapters on professional, educational and training media and business-to-business media. The authors are concerned with trends in all these areas and in specific segments of each, and offer advertising and consumption statistics. The resource is available in print or on CD-ROM.
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Euromonitor

Euromonitor is a research organization in a wide range of fields. It offers about twenty country reports on the book publishing industry and some shorter country market profiles, as well as a few reports on the major newspaper and magazine markets. Its World Directory of Trade and Business Journals covers professional publishing globally, with the requisite coverage and circulation info. Its most comprehensive report in our field is The World Market for Books and Publishing. This report has sales figures by geographical market, format, and category; it identifies market trends, discusses the supply chain, etc. It includes a discussion of the strategies of the main industry players, and even predicts future performance.
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Global Entertainment and Media Outlook
published by PriceWaterhouseCoopers

The industry segments covered in the latest edition (2005-2009) of this annual include magazine publishing, newspaper publishing, consumer book publishing, and educational and professional books. It provides market analyses and five-year growth projections for the U.S., Canada, and global regions. Data within each industry segment is categorized. Segment reports are available for purchase individually.
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Global Publishing Information

This UK Web site is collaboration between The British Council and The Publishers Association (UK). Reports on the publishing industry and market, rich in statistical data, are available by country, including developing countries, to GPI members. For example, the China Publishing Market Profile (2001) is a report of 180 pages. Historical data covers the years 1994 through 1999. There's a great deal of demographic data and economic measurement, and thorough examination of every element of the industry, from legislation through market indicators, including a SWOT analysis. The discussion of market size is replete with finely categorized stats on industry output, and the various sectors of the market are explored. Education and GPI forecasts are carefully examined, and there are charts with projections through 2004.

At 126 pages, the Profile on India is hardly less inclusive; the report on Ghana runs 38 pages. All contain valuable lists of related resources. Access to the material is by membership.
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International Directory of Small Magazines and Small Presses
published by Dustbooks

This annual is a listing of over 4,000 small-circulation magazines and small publishers of both books and magazines. Entries include comprehensive information for publishers, such as name of periodical, content, average press run, number of titles published in the previous year, etc., depending on the type of publication produced. Information for magazines includes circulation, frequency, etc. The entries are indexed by subject, and also by country and state. It is a comprehensive directory, defining "small" liberally.
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International Publishers Association

This organization is made up of 78 publishing organizations in 66 countries. It concerns itself with both book and periodicals publishing. Its mission involves ensuring the right to publish, the protection of copyright, and furthering unrestricted international trade of publications. The Web site also has areas concerned with new technologies. There are areas listing training programs in publishing (academic and non-academic), and international events.

The site has statistics measuring publication for about 30 countries by various measures: type of book; number of titles; domestic and export market; journals and electronic products; number of people employed; distribution channels; and other measures. There are many cells telling us that data is not available, and no data is current, but the site has valuable information nonetheless, notably a chart with the annual book production of 57 countries. Its latest data is from 2002, although most data is older.
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Sector Futures: The Future of Publishing and Media

Sector Futures: In Search of a realistic Future

Both above published by European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (The European Union)

Data on publishing can be extracted from these reports, from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The Future of Publishing and Media was published in 2003; In Search of aRealistic Future in 2004. They analyze market structure, discuss trends and drivers of the industries, and offer future scenarios. Although the reports are Eurocentric, the global industries are examined either explicitly or by generalization.
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Simba Information

Simba Information is a primary source of market intelligence for the media industry. Its reports on publishing cover the range of subindustries with comprehensive and detailed data, often including, notably, forecasts. Reports may be defined by product, market segment, or both, but the data will be broken down and categorized in such a way as to form a matrix. Its resources may focus on print or combine print with electronic materials.

Industry analyses include size, trends, and the other vital data from publisher through retailer, thoroughly broken down. Market data, the other strength of Simba resources, is meticulously categorized and includes data on market drivers (such as school enrollment, for textbooks). Company profiles, reasonably complete, include financials, market share, etc. The forecasts generally cover up to four years. Many reports are associated with electronic newsletters that regularly update the info. This is quantitative and qualitative data, available only in print, for a fee.
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Standard & Poor's Industry Survey: Publishing
published by Standard & Poor's

This is a thorough examination of the U.S. industry and its regulatory, economic and demographic environment. The report includes industry profiles for books and periodicals, trends, statistics, and near-term advertising forecasts. A section titled "How the Industry Operates" inspects the entire marketing process in every category from paper through distribution, including financial and sales considerations. Expanding along these lines, the survey provides rules for evaluating a publisher financially and strategically. The study is complete with charts listing ad spending, revenue, sales, etc. Published every six months, the survey moves beyond reporting to analysis.
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U.S. Copyright Office

The U.S. Copyright Office, of course, is the legal registry for literary and other creative works, under the Library of Congress. Copyright law includes mandatory deposit, and the Copyright Office is the legal depository. Publishers are required to deposit two copies of every work published for the use of The Library of Congress. The Web site also allows us to search copyright records.
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Who's Buying Whom
Published by Whitestone Communications

Who's Buying Whom is an annual report on acquisition, divestiture, and investment activity in the publishing, information and training industries. The chapters segment the publishing industry by the familiar categories of trade magazines, consumer magazines, trade books, etc. Buyer, seller and subindustry are listed for each individual deal, as well as valuation multiples on publicly disclosed deals. In addition, it offers a chart of the year's largest deals, and lists of deals by each major publisher. Its aggregate info includes the number and dollar value of deals with comparisons to the prior years, by segment. The report is augmented by quarterly newsletters.