The global book publishers market

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From Research and Markets:

The global book publishers market is expected to grow from $87.92 billion in 2020 to $92.68 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.4%. The growth is mainly due to the companies rearranging their operations and recovering from the COVID-19 impact, which had earlier led to restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, remote working, and the closure of commercial activities that resulted in operational challenges. The market is expected to reach $104.21 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 3%.

The book publishers market consists of revenues generated by entities (organizations, sole traders or partnerships) that carry out design, editing, and marketing activities necessary for producing and distributing books. These establishments may publish books in print, electronic, or audio form. Their products include atlases, religious books, school or university textbooks, encyclopedias, technical manuals, maps and travel guides, in all cases excepting exclusive internet publishing). The book publishers market is segmented into consumer books; educational books and religious books.

Asia Pacific was the largest region in the global book publishers market, accounting for 34% of the market in 2020. North America was the second largest region accounting for 34% of the global book publishers market. Africa was the smallest region in the global book publishers market.

Print-on-demand (POD) model is becoming popular among book publishers as it allows them to control printing and inventory costs. The Print on Demand (POD) model is characterized by printing the book only after an order is secured. Due to high publishing costs writers and publishers are preferring to keep their work in digital form. Major print on demand book service providers include Blurb, CreateSpace, Lightning Source and Lulu. Amazon too aims to fully integrate the POD technology. It promises to print a book within 2 hours of the order. Self-publishers stand to gain the most due to this technology.

The outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has acted as a significant restraint on some of the book publishers’ markets in 2020 as businesses were disrupted due to lockdowns imposed by governments globally. COVID 19 is an infectious disease with flu-like symptoms including fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing. The virus was first identified in 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei province of the People’s Republic of China and spread globally including Western Europe, North America and Asia. Steps by national governments to contain the transmission have resulted in a decline in economic activity and restricted movement of goods and services with countries entering a state of ‘lock down’. The outbreak is expected to continue to have a negative impact on businesses throughout 2020 and into 2021. However, many media markets have been unaffected or benefited from this as they transmit their content remotely through digital channels. It is expected that the book publishers’ market will recover from the shock across the forecast period as it is a ‘black swan’ event and not related to ongoing or fundamental weaknesses in the market or the global economy.

E-books sales is growing rapidly in established markets of the USA and Europe. eBooks generated a higher share of revenues than the physical print in developed markets such as the US and UK. According to PWC, total global book publisher’s revenue will increase, growing at a CAGR 1.7%, during the forecast period. Although the physical book publisher’s industry continues to shrink (-2.8%), this decline is offset by growth in e-books which are predicted to grow at a CAGR of 11.7% in the forecast period. Increasing consumer preference for the digital versions is expected to significantly impact the growth of the market during this period.

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PG suggests that this isn’t marketing research designed to provide insight into what sorts of books will sell better than others at a granular level. It’s basically a rehash of the past year’s sales statistics projected into the future.