BOOK PUBLISHING IN AUSTRALIA
The 1999-2000 Book Publishers Survey was the first of five annual surveys of book publishers to be conducted as part of the Commonwealth Government’s Book Industry Assistance Plan. The results of the survey suggest that for 1999-2000, there were 199 businesses which had book publishing as their main activity while a further 8 businesses, which were mainly involved in other activities, made a major contribution to book publishing activity in Australia. There were 4,747 people employed by these 207 book publishing businesses.
The survey found that 126 million books with a value of $1,200 million were sold during 1999-2000 by these businesses. Of the $1,200 million in book sales, 50% was for new titles published during 1999-2000. Imported books made up 39% of the value of book sales. Of the 199 book publishers, the 20 with the largest income accounted for 73% of the books sold by the book publishers and 71% of their value.
These results were released on 9 August in Book Publishers, Australia, 1999-2000 (ABS Cat. no. 1363.0; $21.00).
The Book Industry Assistance Plan also includes funding for four annual surveys of book retailers. The first of these, the 2000-01 Book Retailers Survey, is currently being conducted and it is expected that results will be available by mid 2002. The results of the second annual Book Publishers Survey will also be available at that time.
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