Book Sales Numbers – Another Look

Yesterday I published a post about how difficult it is to determine how many books actually sell. Self-publishing guru and grandfather Dan Poynter pointed to a page on one of his sites called: Book Industry Statistics

Take a close look; it’s a much more optimistic view of book publishing and the potential for profiting from writing a book than most. He says, among other things, that book sales may be greater than previously thought. Wouldn’t that be good news, and Dan makes a good case for it, quoting others.

Another part of the article I find fascinating is his breakdown on the actual number of publishers in the country. Shocking to me, although I had some sense of it is that we are down to six big or conglomerate publishers. All but one are names you and I recognize:

* Random House, Inc.
* Penguin Putnam Inc.
* HarperCollins
* Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings
* Time Warner
* Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Dan further states that four of these are owned by foreigners… in other words, a major portion of the U.S. publishing industry has been sold and is, undoubtedly, being managed only for profit and not for the betterment of the world.

There is better news with the small, medium, and self-publishing publishers – whew!

The article is full of solid information of interest to anyone even remotely curious about the book industry.

Thanks Dan!

Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing – a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision – for those who want to get a book written.