Book publishers

2004

Revenues in Canada's book publishing industry exceeded $2 billion in 2004, and foreign-controlled companies accounted for almost half of the industry revenues, according to the latest data from a survey of book publishers.

In fact, 19 foreign-controlled publishers, who represented less than 6% of all companies surveyed, accounted for 47% of total revenues for the book publishers surveyed in 2004.

In total, the 330 book publishers covered by the survey had revenues of more than $2 billion in 2004, up 12.5% from 2000. The 19 foreign-controlled book publishers alone had revenues of $949 million.

In terms of revenue from book sales in Canada, the share held by foreign-controlled publishers was even higher. Their revenues from Canadian book sales reached $808 million in 2004, 59% of the total of almost $1.4 billion.

Book publishers had a total industry profit of $235 million in 2004, for a profit margin of 10.9%. In both 1998 and 2000 the profit margin was 11.1%. Of the book publishers surveyed in 2004, 62% made a profit.

Most of the revenue earned by the publishers in the survey came from the sales of the publisher's own titles and agency titles. These revenues accounted for 84% of the total revenues of those publishers surveyed and amounted to $1.7 billion in 2004. Other sources of revenue for book publishers include book wholesaling, and marketing and fulfillment services.

Thousands of new titles entered the Canadian marketplace

Thousands of new titles entered the Canadian marketplace in 2004. Book publishers produced 16,776 new titles, up 6.8% from 2000. They reprinted 12,387 existing titles, a 19.4% increase over the four year period.

More than half of the new titles published in 2004 were trade books, that is, adult fiction and non-fiction. Educational books accounted for about a fifth of new titles. Among reprinted titles, more than half were educational books.

Most books published by the publishers in this survey were sold in Canada. Export and other foreign sales accounted for only 16% of total revenues in 2004.

Of Canadian sales, own titles, especially educational books, earned the greatest share of the revenue for those publishers surveyed. Sales of own titles in Canada generated $854 million and educational books accounted for 43% of that total.

Exclusive agency book sales in Canada by Canadian publishers accounted for a significant portion of industry revenues from book sales, generating $515 million. Educational books made up the largest proportion of these revenues at nearly 39%.

Four out of five foreign-controlled publishers earned a profit

Of the foreign-controlled publishers surveyed, 80% earned a profit in 2004 compared with 60% of Canadian publishers.

The median profit (the point at which half the firms are above, and half below) for Canadian controlled publishers was significantly lower than for foreign-controlled publishers, based on the survey.

Canadian firms had a median profit of $9,197 in 2004, only a fraction of the median profit of $3.6 million for foreign-controlled firms.

Foreign-controlled publishers represented 59% of revenues for sales of books in Canada and 67% of all educational book sales in Canada. In terms of the number of books published, these publishers published 31% of all new educational titles and 35% of all titles reprinted.

Companies in Ontario and Quebec accounted for the majority of the book publishing industry's revenue. Book publishers in Ontario earned revenues of $1.4 billion, more than twice the revenues of $526 million among firms in Quebec.

It is important to note that the 19 foreign-controlled companies are located in Ontario and Quebec. In Ontario, they represented 51% of publishing revenues in the province, and 45% in Quebec. These publishers employed just over a third of the total number of full- and part-time employees in the industry.

Exclusive agency sales revenue was almost half of the book sales revenue for book publishers sampled in Ontario compared with 14% for publishers in Quebec. Trade books made up the greatest share of new titles published in both provinces.

Expenses: Industry has low labour costs

Total expenses for the book publishing industry amounted to $1.9 billion in 2004, up 24% from 1998. Salaries, wages and benefits (including those for production) made up 18.7% of total industry expenses.

The book publishing industry has low labour costs because many publishers use contract staff for services such as editing and design. Of the book publishing companies surveyed, one-fifth of the personnel were contract workers.

Of the publishers surveyed, the majority of the expenses came from the cost of sales, which amounted to $1.0 billion, or 56% of total expenses. Cost of sales includes production salaries, wages and benefits, contract printing, inventories and royalties.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3105.

Selected information is now available in Book Publishers and Exclusive Agents: Data Tables (87F0004XIE, free) from the Our Products and Services page of our website. These tables include breakdowns of data by region of Canada, language of publisher and country of control.

For more information about the survey, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Les Reid (613-951-2246; fax: 613-951-6696; les.reid@statcan.gc.ca), Service Industries Division or Tom Gorman (613-951-3498; fax: 613-951-1333; tom.gorman@statcan.gc.ca), Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics.