PMA Report on Publishing

**"bbmackey" b*@prodigy.net**

I belong to the Publishers Marketing Association (PMA,
http://www.pma-online.org ) and was interested in its recent report. The PMA
September newsletter offers a writeup by Thomas Wolf of results of PMA's
second survey of independent publishers, "The Rest of Us." This is
copywrited so I can't repeat everything. In short, it concludes that while
large publishers are merging, smaller publishers are multiplying and are
responsible for an ever-increasing share of the book market. In 2002 there
were about 85,000 smaller and medium sized independent publishers in the USA
(each with 1 to 199 titles in print), compared to about 53,000 five years
ago. With sales for the independent group as a whole increasing at about 20%
a year for the last five years, they brought in an estimated $30 billion in
2002.

Big publishers still get more than their share of media publicity and
bookstore shelf space, but small publishers are making big gains both in
sales and respectability. Savvy marketing to non-bookstore markets and use
of the internet are helping the independents grow faster than their larger
counterparts.

After reading Wolf's article and thinking about my own experience, I
conclude that many of the very largest publishers are bogged down in their
corporate media empires. An ordinary and popular garden book does not gain
their interest and you can't turn it into a movie.

I think garden writers should be willing to review books from either large
or small publishers, purely on the merits, although some newspapers
discriminate against small presses and especially against self publishers.
Also, writers should pitch their book writing proposals to both groups or
even consider the self-publishing route themselves. Technology has made it
possible for successful publishers to be very small indeed.

-- Betty

Betty Mackey, Publisher
B. B. Mackey Books
P. O. Box 475
Wayne, PA 19087

bbmackey@prodigy.net

http://www.mackeybooks.com

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