How Book Publishing Is Changing: Perspectives of a Small Publisher STEVEN PIERSANTI PRESIDENT AND...

How Book Publishing Is Changing: Perspectives of a Small Publisher

STEVEN PIERSANTIPRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER

BERRETT-KOEHLER PUBLISHERS, INC.

Sources of My Perspectives

HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI

•32 years experience in book publishing

•1977 – 1991: Jossey-Bass Publishers (promotional copywriter, marketing director, editor, editorial director, executive vice president, president)

•1992 – 2009: Berrett-Koehler Publishers (founder, president and publisher)

Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Mission: Creating a World That Works for All


BK Currents: societal change

BK Business: organizational change

BK Life: individual change

Trade, Professional, and Textbook


Publish 30 to 40 new books & new editions per year

Approx. ¾ perfect bound, ¼ case bound

Nearly all one-color, a few two-color and four-color

First printings: POD to 50,000 copies

Reprints: POD to 20,000 copies

Presentation Topics


The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing The Digital Publishing Revolution The Growth of Print on Demand Opportunities for Book Manufacturers

The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing


#1: The number of new books being publishing in the U.S. has exploded.

560,626 in 2008 (more than doubled in 5 years)



#2: Book industry sales are declining, despite the explosion of new books.

13.5% decline from 2003 to 2008 adjusted for inflation



#3: Average book sales are shockingly small, and falling fast.

Average U.S. book now sells less than 250 copies/year and 3,000 copies/lifetime.



#4: A book has less than a 1% chance of being stocked in an average bookstore.

There are 100 to 1,000 or more titles competing for each shelf space.



#5: It is getting harder and harder every year to sell books.



#6: Most books today are selling only to the authors’ and publishers’ communities.



#7: Most book marketing today is done by authors, not by publishers.



#8: No other industry has so many new product introductions.



#9: The digital revolution is expanding the number of products and sales channels but not increasing book sales.



#10: The book publishing world is in a never-ending state of turmoil.

The Digital Publishing Revolution


The Digital Publishing Revolution


Digital = 5% of BK revenues and growing rapidly

The Digital Publishing RevolutionBK’s view of the marketplace:


Digital is growing rapidly.

Print is not going away.

Technologies exist side-by-side (radio, movies, TV, internet).

Digital is taking market share from print rather than increasing overall book sales.

The Rise of Print on Demand


Some publishers have switched entirely to POD.

BK uses POD to keep slow-selling books in print.

BK uses POD to print digital-primary books and other special publications.

BK is considering switching to POD after first printings for many books.

The Rise of Print on Demand


BK has 28 POD titles with Lightening Source.

BK has 16 digital short-run titles with Malloy, Hamilton, Webcom, Ltd, and Odyssey Press

These numbers are growing rapidly.

A BK case study:


From book concept to printed book in 7 weeks and 2 days.

Espresso Book Machine


Game changer?

A small publisher’s needs = opportunities for book manufacturers


Conversion of book files to EPUB and XML

Reduce printing costs at low quantities

Make it economical to switch back and forth between offset and short run

Speed: make it possible to print and reprint in 2 to 5 days when needed (with higher prices)

Support publisher’s environmental priorities

How Book Publishing Is Changing: Perspectives of a Small Publisher STEVEN PIERSANTI PRESIDENT AND...

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