Industry Statistics: Looking Behind the Numbers
3. Business performance and outlook reports: Probably the most jealously guarded and hardest to come by is business performance by company and group. Publishing and media information companies such as Simba and Open Book Publishing are primary sources. Aside from applications to publishing and marketing strategies, they also guide long-range investment decisions, and merger and acquisition activity. There are, of course, scores of market research firms that publishers can commission to search their continuing databases or do targeted research for business planning. Also, the required annual filings of public companies are available to anyone who wants them.
- Companies:
- Amazon.com
- American Booksellers Association
- Association of American Publishers
- Book Publishing Report
- Bowker
- Consortium
- Evangelical Christian Publishers Association
- Fordham University
- Independent Publishers Group
- National Association of College Stores
- National Book Network (NBN)
- Nielsen Media Research
- PMA
- Publishers Weekly
- Simba Information
- The Book Industry Study Group
- Places:
- Manhattan
- United States
Eugene G. Schwartz is editor at large for ForeWord Reviews, an industry observer and an occasional columnist for Book Business magazine. In an earlier career, he was in the printing business and held production management positions at Random House, Prentice-Hall/Goodyear and CRM Books/Psychology Today. A former PMA (IBPA) board member, he has headed his own publishing consultancy, Consortium House. He is also Co-Founder of Worthy Shorts Inc., a development stage online private press and publication service for professionals as well as an online back office publication service for publishers and associations. He is on the Publishing Business Conference and Expo Advisory Board.