Here are more reasons to seek sales in non-bookstore markets. This is a summary of an article by Jim Milliot in PW Daily, Sep 29, 2017:

While book publishing has fared better than some other media in the digital age, there has been no growth over the past five years. According to the Association of American Publishers’ recent StatShot report, total industry sales fell to $26.24 billion in 2016, down 5.1% from 2015. Between 2012 and 2016, sales fell every year except 2014, and over the five-year period sales dropped 5.3%

   The lack of real growth in the industry, in some ways, has likely been caused by the other issues highlighted in the survey. Certainly, publishers must compete with the many new entertainment options available to consumers to get attention for their books, and the explosion of video games and the growing use of social media has made reading books less popular.

   Although the limited number of online retailers was only picked by only 5% of survey respondents as the major challenge in the industry, a number of publishers who commented on industry issues named Amazon—in one way or another—as the greatest challenge to book publishers.

   Financial pressure on bricks-and-mortar stores was seen by 16% of respondents as the industry’s top challenge. Here, too, some publishers pointed to Amazon and its “encroachment” into physical retail as a concern, while others cited the continuing troubles of Barnes & Noble.

FYI, Brian Jud

Executive Director, APSS

BrianJud@bookapss.org