Book publishers and retailers

In 2003-04, the Australian Bureau of Statistics identified 234 businesses that were predominantly involved in publishing books.

There were an additional 10 businesses that generated an annual income in excess of $2 million from book publishing, although this was not their main business activity.

In 2003-04, book publishers sold 128.8 million books with a total value of $1.3 billion, to book retailers and directly to the public. Almost $812 million of these were sales of Australian titles. That is about 89.2 million books.

Approximately 14 per cent of the value of all books published was sold overseas, mostly to the United States and New Zealand.

Educational books accounted for 39 per cent of sales, with general non-fiction accounting for 36 per cent; general fiction 15 per cent; and children’s books 9 per cent.

Operating profits before tax increased by 75 per cent between 2002-03 and 2003-04, from $86.9 million to $152.1 million. This led to an increase in profit margin from 5.5 per cent to 9.7 per cent.

At the other end of the distribution chain, there were a total of 1,572 businesses in Australia involved in book retailing in 2003–04. This included 561 bookshops; 991 newsagents; and 19 other large retailers such as supermarkets and department stores.

Bookshops recorded sales growth between 2001–02 and 2003–04. Despite this, operating profits before tax declined, with profit margins declining from 3.6 per cent in 2001–02 to 1.3 per cent in 2003–04.
 

Source

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Book Publishers, 2003–04 (cat. no. 1363.0). 

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Book Retailers, 2003–04 (cat. no. 1371.0).

Links

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Arts and Culture in Australia: A Statistical Overview, 2009, Literature and Print Media (cat. no. 4172.0). 

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Children’s Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities, April 2009 (cat. no. 4901.0)