Unfortunately, the answer to your question depends on whom you ask.
***Cookbook publishers Callawind Publishers Inc. claims
(http://www.callawind.com/custom_info.html) 60 million cookbooks sold
in the U.S. last year.
***Quoting the American Booksellers Association, The National
Restaurant Association
(http://www.restaurant.org/rusa/magArticle.cfm?ArticleID=631) says
cookbook sales in the U.S. rose from 27.5 million in 1991 to 41.8
million in 1995. Cookbooks are a $400 million a year industry,
according to the NRA article.
***Another publisher, West 175 Media Group Inc.
(http://www.cookbookfair.com/press/onebillion.htm), quotes a far
larger estimate: "The U.S. is by far the leading market for cookbooks.
During the year 2000, nearly 530 million cookbooks and wine books were
sold, approximately 8% more than in 1999, with a 9% annual growth rate
since 1996. Over half of the books sold are hard covers. These
statistics were compiled by 1PSOS-NPD Book Trends of Rosemount,
Illinois and reported by "Publishers Weekly" on July 23,2001."
***The American Booksellers Association counted 102 million adult
"cooking/crafts" books sold in 1998, down from 109 million in 1997 but
up from 83.5 million in 1991. See
(http://www.bookweb.org/research/stats/387.html).
***The Census Bureau
(http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/01statab/arts.pdf) says Americans
spent $27.8 billion on books and maps in 1998. I don't know how much
of that was for adult books, but the ABA calculation that 10 percent
of adult books sold are cookbooks or craft books make the NRA's
estimate of cookbook revenue at $400 million seem somewhat
conservative.
I would contact the ABA (contact info:
http://www.bookweb.org/aba/106.html) or the American Association of
Publishers (http://www.publishers.org/) for more information on
cookbook sales statistics.
Magazines:
***Statistics for U.S. magazine subscription revenue from the Magazine
Publishers' Associatio are at
(http://www.magazine.org/resources/fact_sheets/cs6_9_02.html).
***The Audit Bureau of Circulation (www.accessabc.com) lists
circulation figures for only five "epicurean" magazines:
Bon Appetit (1.268 million)
Food & Wine (978,277)
Gourmet (947,399)
Saveur (385,579)
Fine Cooking (216,132)
See (http://abcas1.accessabc.com/ecirc/) for ABC reports.
***Reader's Digest Association claims 4.6 million subscribers to its
Taste of Home magazine. See
(http://www.rd.com/corporate/reiman2.html).
***Wilkofsky Gruen & Associates sells data on the magazine industry.
See (www.wilkofskygruen.com).
I would contact the MPA for more-specific information. For contact
info see (http://www.magazine.org/aboutMPA/location.html).
I hope this information has been of some help.
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