Goals:

Early Findings:

• In 2018, publishers in the U.S. sold 2.71 units (estimated net revenue $25.82 billion). This number includes all book formats (e.g., print, e-book) across all sales channels.
• Compared to 2017, unit sales decreased by .6%.
• Non-fiction is fastest-growing segment (based on sales growth from 2014-2018): adult non-fiction 20.9% and children’s nonfiction 17.8%.
• Publishers are selling more to online retailers ($8.08 billion) than to physical retailers ($6.90 billion).
• Adult fiction sales have been flat (less than half a percent growth from 2017) and children’s & young adult increased slightly (1.6%).
• The publishing industry’s largest category is trade books which provided $16.19 billion in revenue.
•  Online book sales for 2018 included 45.1% for print formats and 24.5% for e-books (other categories: instructional materials, audio, physical audio/other).
• For the first quarter of 2019, overall publisher revenue was 23.7% higher (+$140.5 million) than the same period in 2018.
• In 2017, Amazon represented approximately half of tracked book sales (312 of 687 million units). Barnes & Noble is the second largest print book retailer (23% of print book sales).

Proposed Next Steps:

(3 hours, $75)