Acquiring Small Press Monographs: Trends and Analyses

2013 Charleston ConferenceYem Fong

Gene HayworthUniversity of Colorado Boulder

Introduction

This PowerPoint presents the preliminary results of ongoing research by Gene Hayworth and Yem Fong regarding library acquisition of small press titles. The research has three phases:

» Analysis of WorldCat holdings records for 637 small press publishers» Analysis of small press holdings in the collections of the Norlin Library at the University of

Colorado,Boulder» Analysis of survey results of a survey of library acquisitions practices of small press titles

At this point in our research we have completed analysis of the holdings records for 100 small press publishers, which is represented in several of the charts and graphs in this presentation. The analysis of the small press holdings at the Norlin Library represents our holdings as of November, 2013.

We have just begun to send out our survey, and we hope to present an analysis of the results, as well as the data for the additional 537 small press holdings records in WorldCat, at a later date. We have included a link to our survey at the end of this slide presentation, and we invite you to participate by competing it.

Why should small presses care?

According to a 1988 study (Library Market Outlook), the library market accounts for 10% of all book sales.

The market size for libraries has been estimated at almost 120,000 locations16,500 public libraries, in addition to academic, religious, hospital, prison, military and others1

At least anecdotally, small press publishers firmly believe that they do not have access to this market. The high cost of distribution agreements, the lack of support from book review sources, and low visibility are all factors which weigh against the small press publisher. This study attempts to gather data to support or refute this claim.

» 1Jud, Brian. How to make real money selling books. (p. 175)

Why should libraries care?

» A recent online report suggests that the Big Six—Hachette, Macmillan, Penguin, HarperCollins, Random House, and Simon & Schuster—are relying on small press publishers as “farm leagues” to scout out talent, because “many of the best well-established writers are represented by the small presses.”1

» Because of the financial instability of many small presses, the material they publish is often ephemeral, and if it is not collected quickly it may not be available long. This is also an example of the type of material which can create distinctions between our collections.

» Even a brief search of library literature will reveal that serendipity plays a large role in how our users discover library material. This suggests that we should be proactive in selection of materials that users may never discover unless it is available on our shelves.

» From a professional perspective, two of the American Library Association’s key action areas, Intellectual Freedom and Equitable Access to Information and Library Services, underscore the notion that libraries and librarians play a key role in providing access the wealth of information available only through small press publishers.

1 http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/13/the-splashy-debut-novel-is-dead-or-is-it.html

“Small Press. A category of publishing in which firms generally operate on low budgets. Small press houses are independent organizations whose budgets depend on the publishers’ personal funds, donations from authors, and grants” (p. 396).

Writers Encyclopedia. Third Edition. Writers Digest Books. (1996).

“…small presses are those that publish, on average, less than 10 books per year.”Brewer, Robert; Joanna Masterson (2006). “Markets: Small Presses.” 9p. 337) 2007 Writer's Market. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books.

“A small press is a publisher that’s independently owned (i.e., not part of a bigger conglomerate, as with large publishing houses like Penguin or Random House), and has low annual sales income and profit. Traditionally, small presses also released limited numbers of books–10 or fewer a year–but digital technology has made publishing cheap, and these days many small presses have substantial publishing lists.”

Victoria Strauss. “SMALL PRESSES.” Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (Retrieved 10/09/2013 from http://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/small/).

“The field of literary publishing incorporates a wide diversity of presses and magazines: those with budgets of less than $5,000 to those of more than $1 million” (The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses. Retrieved from http://www.clmp.org/about/ on 10/09/2013)

What is a Small Press?

The Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) 3000 members

International Publishers AssociationCurrent membership includes some 6 publishers' organizations from approximately 50 countries

Mid-Atlantic Book Publishers Association 54 members listed

The Small Publishers Association of North America (No membership details given)APSS www.bookapss.org -- formerly SPAN) does not have a formal definition for the term "small press." According to Wikipedia:

"A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level. Commonly, in the United States, this is set at $50 million, after returns and discounts. Small presses are also defined as those that publish an average of fewer than 10 titles per year, though there are a few who manage to do more.” --Brian Jud, Executive Director of SPAN

The Council of Literary Magazines and PressesA search of the CLMP Directory, limited to “Press”, returned 1197 results

Small Press and Independent Publishers Associations

Number of Small Press Companies in the United StatesAs reported by Source

Internati

onal Book P

ublishing:

an en

cycloped

ia (1995)

(35,000)

The I

nternati

onal Dire

ctory

of Little

Magazi

nes an

d Small

Presses

(2010-2011)

(3000 avera

ge)

Hoovers

(US,

Book Publish

ers, in

come<

=50 m

illion)

(7350)

Mergen

t (US,

Book Publish

ing, inco

me<=5

0 milli

on)

(26)

Referen

ce USA

(4052)

Indepen

dent P

ublishing:

Today

and Ye

sterd

ay. (1

975)

(2000)

Council of L

iterar

y Mag

azines

and Pres

ses (1

197)

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

To identify small presses for this study, the authors used the following sources:

Poets & Writers Small Presses (309 publishers) http://www.pw.org/small_presses

Small Press Distribution (516 publishers):http://www.spdbooks.org/pages/publishers/Publisher-List-No-Description.aspx

Consortium Book Sales & Distribution (127 publishers)http://www.cbsd.com/publishers/our-publishers

From the 840 unique companies, we eliminated university presses, non-US companies, those presses that only produced serials, and those companies who were no longer in business. This left a total of 636.

How are these small presses handled by large distributors?

Ingram-Coutts Treated material for 7901 publishers in 2013300 small press publishers from our list were represented

Baker & TaylorTreated material for 7737 publishers in 2013115 small press publishers from our list were represented

0% 2% 3%7% 1%

2%6%

1%5%

27%25%

0%

7%

2%13% B&T, Cons., SPD and Ingram

Baker & Taylor onlyConsortium onlyIngram onlyBaker & Taylor and ConsortiumBaker & Taylor and IngramBaker & Taylor andSPDB&T, Consortium and IngramConsortium and IngramSPD onlySPD and IngramSPD and ConsortiumSPD, Ingram and B&TConsortium, SPD and IngramNo distribution by these 4

Distribution of Small Press Titles

Distribution by 2Baker & Taylor and Consortium 5Baker & Taylor and Ingram 14Baker & Taylor and SPD 36Consortium and Ingram 29SPD and Ingram 161SPD and Consortium 2

Distribution by 3 or moreB&T, Cons., SPD and Ingram 1Baker & Taylor and Consortium 5B&T, Consortium and Ingram 4SPD, Ingram and B&T 42Consortium, SPD and Ingram 12

Distribution by 1 or lessBaker & Taylor only 12Consortium only 19Ingram only 45SPD only 169No distribution by these 4 85

Small Press Annual Sales

107 of the 635 (17%) Presses have a listing in RefUSA

Sales figures: infoUSA received U.S. commerce supplied data on "sales per employee" for each four-digit SIC code. This figure is multiplied by the number of employees at each location to arrive at a reliable estimate of a company's annual sales.

Sales $56,000 - 300,000 10$301,000 - 500,000 17$501,000 - 1,000,000 32$1,000,001 - 2,000,000 30$2,000,001 - 5,000,000 13$5,000,001 + 5

9%

16%

30%

28%

12%

5%

Sales $56,000 - 300,000$301,000 - 500,000$501,000 - 1,000,000$1,000,001 - 2,000,000$2,000,001 - 5,000,000$5,000,001 +

Arizona

Connecticu

t

Missouri

Virginia

New Je

rseyOhio

Minnesota

Pennsyl

vania

Wash

ington

Texa

s

Colorado

Oregon

Illinois

Maine

New Yo

rk

Californ

ia

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

Percentage of total

Small Presses with 10 or more titles by State

State Total

California 155New York 137Maine 32Illinois 22Colorado 21Oregon 21Texas 19Washington 18Minnesota 16Pennsylvania 16Ohio 14New Jersey 12Arizona 10Connecticut 10Missouri 10Virginia 10GA 9DC 8RI 8MD 7N/A 6NC 6FL 5IA 5KS 5ME 5LA 4NH 4NM 4SC 4VT 4AR 3HI 3KY 3TN 3WI 3IN 2MO 2UT 2AL 1DE 1ID 1MT 1NE 1NV 1OK 1

For libraries, these small press demographics have several ramifications:

Though most small press companies are located in New York and California, these companies are scattered throughout the United States, often producing material by local authors or containing local content unique to the geographic area of your library.

Lack of distribution makes it difficult to locate and purchase much small press material. It can also be difficult to purchase directly from the publisher. Of the 636 in this study, 383 had websites, but only 248 of those contained contact information.

It is almost impossible to estimate how many of small press companies there are at any given time, and their financial instability adds to the ephemeral nature of the material they produce.

To examine the current state of small press library acquisitions, the authors analyzed the following data for 636 small press publishers in WorldCat for the years 2008 – 2012:

Titles produced by year

Titles produced by genre

Titles produced by format (electronic versus print)

Copies of these titles acquired by:• Public libraries• Academic libraries• Consortium libraries• National libraries• Special libraries

Acquisitions by US libraries versus non-US libraries

Total titles produced by not acquired

Small Press titles published per year, compared to the number cataloged in WorldCat

2008 2009 2010 2011 20120

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Titles PublishedTitles Cataloged in Worldcat

2008 2009 2010 2011 20120

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Totals produced with no acquistions

Totals with no acquistions

20082009

20102011

2012

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Total Aquired

Total Aquired

Acquisitions by U.S. libraries compared to non-U.S.

2008 2009 2010 2011 20120

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Acquired in the USAcquired by libraries outside the US

Print2008

E-Book2008

Print2009

E-Book2009

Print2010

E-Book2010

Print2011

E-Book2011

Print2012

E-Book2012

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Small Press Titles Produced

Small Press Titles Produced

In 2008 e-books were 0.6 percent of the total trade markethttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/02/books/02bea.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Print2008

E-Book2008

Print2009

E-Book2009

Print2010

E-Book2010

Print2011

E-Book2011

Print2012

E-Book2012

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

Copies Acquired

Copies Acquired

Small Press Acquisitions by Type of Library

Print2008 E-Book

2008 Print2009 E-Book

2009 Print2010 E-Book

2010 Print2011 E-Book

2011 Print2012 E-Book

2012

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

AcademicPublic

ConsortiumNational

Other

AcademicPublicConsortiumNationalOther

Small Press Titles by Genre

PoetryFiction

MemoirAnthology

NonfictionLiterature in Translation Art/Photo

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

20082009201020112012

What does this analysis suggest?

Although there was a decline in 2008, small press titles, both in print and electronic, seem to be increasing, but there is a corresponding increase in titles which are not acquired and/or cataloged.

The most favored genres for small press publishers are poetry and fiction.

Sales of a particular title can create a spike in the results, making it difficult to measure the effect of library purchases.

There is a growing interest among small press companies to produce and distribute content in electronic format.

Small Press Monographs at CU Boulder

» How many do we buy?» What do we spend?» Where? From vendors or direct from publishers?» How do small presses fit into our collection building?

FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13$0.00

$2,000.00

$4,000.00

$6,000.00

$8,000.00

$10,000.00

$12,000.00

CU Boulder Expenditures on Small Press Publishers

Expenditures

CU-B Small Press Monograph Titles FY08-13 By Vendor

BlackwellCouttsAlibris Inc.AmazonOtherYankee Book PeddlerPhoto Eye BooksAbe BooksCasalini LibriHarrassowitzBarnes and Nobles

Small press titles NOT purchased through a vendor FY08-13

Publisher# of Titles Purchased Expenditure

Chax Press 6 $181.90Coffee House Press 1 $143.00Gingko Press 4 $120.83George Braziller 1 $95.00Granary Books 1 $75.00Fiddlehead Poetry Books 1 $75.00Burning Deck 6 $44.00Roof Books 3 $29.85Fairweather Books 1 $27.34City Lights Publishers 1 $27.07Other Press 1 $23.00Owl Canyon Press 1 $21.00Cross-Cultural Communications 1 $20.00Wave Books 1 $19.99Make Now 1 $16.50Adventure Publications 1 $15.95Counterpath Press 1 $15.95Les Figues Press 1 $15.00

Total 33 $966.38

Small press monographs CU» 81 presses: only one book purchased over 6 years » 50 presses: 2 books» 28 presses: 25 – 149 books» Total small press expenditures: low of .08% of

monograph $$ in FY08 to high of .58% in FY10

Some Considerations» We rely on major monograph vendors» Faculty requests and knowledge of presses important

to drive demand» $$ shifting to Demand driven eBooks, eBook

packages » Are we all buying the “same” books?» Are we meeting needs of users?» Is it important to provide venues for lesser known

emerging authors in non-mainstream subjects?» Where do we go from here?

CONTACT INFORMATION

yem.fong@colorado.edu

gene.hayworth@colorado.edu

Please assist us by completing our online survey:https://cuboulder.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0MPIJKrRWoWr45n

Acknowledgements

The presenters wish to thank the following individuals for their assistance providing data or gathering information:

OCLC: Eric Childress and Jeremy BrowningIngram – Coutts: Sarah ForzettingBaker & Taylor: Rick ShalaydaCU Boulder: Esta Tovstiadi and Carol Hagy

We also wish to recognize the assistance from the many staff at small presses who are too numerous to name here.