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Top Ten Book Publishers in America (Through March 2008)
It’s been more than a year since I updated our list of the Top Ten Publishers in America. Because of some changes in the available point-of-sale data, we were not able to get create a reliable ranking. However, we have seen an improvement in recent months. It’s not perfect, but we do believe it represents the best data currently available.
These lists are based on revenues for the twelve months ending March 31, 2008. We created these lists from a proprietary database we have assembled at Thomas Nelson. It is based on various point-of-sale systems from multiple sales channels.
We maintain two lists internally. First, we track the Top Ten Trade Publishers. (Publishers whose books are primarily sold through retail booksellers as opposed to, say, textbook publishers.) The various imprints are consolidated into their parent companies. So, for example, HarperCollins includes William Morrow and Zondervan. Simon & Schuster includes Free Press, Pocket Books, Howard Books, Scribner, etc.
Second, we track all Christian publishers. In this case, we break out the Christian imprints of the trade publishers and rank them against each other. That’s why Zondervan, for example, is on the second list but not the first list. (Click on the images above to enlarge them. If you want to save the files to your hard drive, right-click and download the linked files.)
What’s changed since the last time we published the list? A couple of things. First, on the Top Trade Publishers our ranking has dropped from #6 to #7. This is due to sales of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows from Scholastic. This one title propelled Scholastic from #10 to #6 and bumped us down to in the process. If you remove this one title from the database, we are still #6.
Pearson also overtook HarperCollins for the #2 slot. The other percentages within the list shifted slightly.
You may be wondering how John Wiley and Scholastic (without Harry Potter) could be smaller than Thomas Nelson. Keep in mind that our ranking only considers trade sales. Both Wiley and Scholastic have giant academic, professional and technical publishing programs that aren’t considered trade sales. In addition, Scholastic has a book fair program, whose sales are not included here.
In terms of the Top Christian Publishers, the ranking of the top five publishing houses remained the same, though the market share percentages changed. We gained market share (180 basis points), along with Tyndale and Baker. Zondervan and Waterbrook Multnomah lost market share.
The bottom five on the list swamped positions and NavPress fell off the list entirely. They were replaced by Moody at #10.
How would you rate this post?
W. Mark Whitlock says:
Congratulations to you and your team. I hope many of those who were "downsized" also feel a sense of accomplishment for their work during your last year.
Knowing you, you won't--nor let your team--rest on their laurels. Hope to read a blog entry soon that outlines your thoughts on how to grow Nelson by 360 basis points between this report and next June's.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Mary E. DeMuth says:
Thanks for showing these graphics. It's nice to see it all visually and understand the stats.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008 at 12:24 PM
Colleen Coble says:
It's always interesting to me to see this side of publishing! I get focused on my own little world of the computer, words, character and plot. If we could just figure out how to have a blockbuster like the Harry Potter books! :)
I've been watching your Twitter updates on your challenges with your MacBook Pro, Mike. Glad it seems to be on its way to be fixed! I hate computer issues more than anything. Especially since I looove my little MacBook so much. I thought they were invincible though. You've scared me!
Tuesday, June 03, 2008 at 04:13 PM
Lyn Cote says:
Hi Mike,
I always find info like this interesting. But I was wondering what are the top ten mass market publishers in all and in the Christian markets? Do you have figures on them?
Lyn
www.LynCote.net
Tuesday, June 03, 2008 at 05:39 PM
Young Lee says:
Weldone
Tuesday, June 03, 2008 at 05:59 PM
Michael S. Hyatt says:
@Lyn: I'm not quite sure what you mean by "mass market publishers." Can you clarify?
Tuesday, June 03, 2008 at 08:55 PM
Lyn Cote says:
Hi Mike,
I was referring to book format.
Since you used the term "trade" I assumed that you were talking about trade paperbacks. Were you using "trade" in this way or another meaning?
I'm always interested in the different formats and how they perform in different markets.
So are you talking oranges and I'm talking apples or did I understand you correctly? Were you speaking about primarily publishers who publish trade paperbacks?
TIA.
Lyn
Wednesday, June 04, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Michael S. Hyatt says:
@Lyn: Yes, we are talking apples and oranges. By "trade books," I mean all book formats selling through consumer retail outlets. This would include cloth, trade paper, mass paperbacks, etc. Thanks.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008 at 01:18 PM
mike miller says:
Mike thanks for mentioning NavPress in your post thought you would like to see my response in my blog.
Thanks for the helpful information.
http://michaeldmiller.wordpress.com/
Wednesday, June 04, 2008 at 02:32 PM
Lyn Cote says:
Okay, Mike. Glad we got the fruit sorted out!
Lyn
Wednesday, June 04, 2008 at 06:00 PM
Lee Poteet says:
It is all very well, but i still can't find the Bible I need, i.e., a very large print edition of the Authorized King James version with the Apocrapha. And why do Bible publishers feel free to call an old and new Testament without the apocrapha, a Bible, especially if it is the King James translation? Isn't that a bit of re-writing of history?
Saturday, June 07, 2008 at 12:56 PM
VRK says:
Hi Mike - thanks for this great post. I was wondering roughly what's the overall size of the market as you defined it here in terms of absolute $?
Thanks!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 01:29 PM
Parham says:
Hi Michael,
Great post! From time to time I check your blog and I am amazed by your overall web presence in Facebook, Twitter, and this blog. You are probably the single most active executive from publishing industry taking advantage of the Internet :-)
I have been trying to find statistical data on publishers domestically and internationally. Could you please let me know where did you find the data presented in the both charts? Is there a way to know the sales or percentage of Top 20 publishers?
Much appreciated
Monday, August 04, 2008 at 02:13 AM
Derek says:
Parham: It's hard to find total sales figures because the largest publishers are part of even larger corporations, some of which are privately held:
NewCorp (HarperCollins, Avon, Zondervan, William Morrow)
CBS (Simon & Schuster, Scribner, Fireside, Touchstone)
Bertelsmann (Random House, Doubleday, Dell, Knopf, Bantam, Ballantine)
Lagardère (Hachette, Little Brown, Orbit)
Pearson (Penguin)
Holzbrink (Farrar Strous Geroux, Macmillan, Tor, Holt, Picador, St. Martin's)
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 08:21 AM