This is an update to the top ten publisher lists. We maintain two lists internally. First, we track all trade publishers. (Publishers whose books are primarily sold through retail booksellers as opposed to, say, textbook publishers.) The various imprints are consolidated into their parent companies. So, for example, HarperCollins includes William Morrow and Zondervan. Simon & Schuster includes Free Press, Pocket Books, Howard Books, Scribner, etc.
Second, we track all Christian publishers. In this case, we break out the Christian imprints of the trade publishers and rank them against each other. That’s why Zondervan, for example, is on the second list but not the first list. (Click on the images above and below to enlarge them. If you want to save the PDF files to your hard drive, right-click and download the linked files.)
What’s changed since the last time we published the list? These lists are based on revenues for the twelve months ending February 28, 2007. This data is drawn from a proprietary database we have created at Thomas Nelson. It is based on various point-of-sale systems from multiple sales channels.
The list of top ten trade publishers is almost the same as the last time we published it. The percentages shifted slightly but not much. However, Pearson has now edged out Simon & Schuster for the number three spot. (We previously had not included all of the Pearson imprints.) In addition, the list of top Christian publishers changed significantly.
In our previous reports, we kept wondering why Waterbrook Multnomah, now a combined division of Random House, wasn’t showing up higher in the list of Christian publishers. We were also surprised that FaithWords, the Christian division of Hachette (formerly Warner) wasn’t showing up on the list.
As it turns out, the databases we draw from had not fully converted their metadata to reflect the recent flurry of acquisitions and name changes. However, we made the changes internally and believe we now have all the titles mapped to the correct “parent” publisher.
Here’s a quick summary of what changed on the Top Ten Christian Publishers list:
- Each publisher’s market share was reduced slightly to account for the increased volume of Waterbrook Multnomah and FaithWords.
- Waterbrook Multnomah is now fifth on the top ten list. FaithWords is now eighth.
- Moody and Crossway fell off the list. They didn’t make the top ten.
I am not sure we will keep publishing this list. (We are having an internal debate about it.) But I did want to at least make sure we had corrected our earlier mistake in excluding Waterbrook Multnomah and FaithWords from the top ten Christian publishers list.
Technorati Tags: books, market share, publishing, thomas nelson
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Mike,
I hope you will continue to publissh this list. If however you decide not to, please provide updates for us in our quarterly emmployee meetings. I enjoy knowing where we stand in the market place.
Thanks
(sorry for the spelling errors, I was typing too fast)
Hello Mr. Hyatt,
I enjoyed the information presented here and was wondering if this is still currently valid in 2008. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Respectfully,
Celestia Buckingham-Smith
I am about six mounths away from finishing a novel about sensationalistic adventurism and I am a rookie. How do I get published and how do I avoid getting ripped off. I have the best story of the twenty-first century!
Jim Ward
703-528-1885
571-338-6229
I wrote the book, The Storm is Over.A Preacher Testimony by Danton L Ballard
Authorhouse publish the book for me with a fee. the Book is copyright and i have a ISBN number. I strongly believe that i’m be rip off by authorhouse. I must pay a small amount each year to keep the sell of my book in book store, the amount i received from each book is less than 10% because once a person order the book, Authorhouse print the book on demand. My Book is four years old. i would like for you to please take the time out, please and read my book, in which you will find its very interesting and true. Please help me, i need to promote my book, to help other, that suffer like i have.
Note that the Christian Publishers referred to here all pay to be affiliated with the Christian Booksellers Association, an association created in 1950 to provide narrowly targeted Christian Fiction for patrons of Christian Bookstores. No non-affiliated Christian Publisher is considered here. These numbers do not reflect anything but stats for CBA to gauge their sells by. The larger Christian Book Stores do not carry anything but affiliated fiction or at the very least non-affiliated fiction that is so targeted they don't have to question it. They do not carry any non-affiliated Christian fiction unless, like The Shack, it sells too well to be ignored.
Actually, you can delete this reply. I didn't realize this was Mr. Hyatt's blog. LOL Of course, it pertains to CBA affiliated houses. I'd delete it myself except it doesn't give me that option. :)