Dear HAC,
According to the industry publications, the cookbook market ranged
from $42 million in 1994 to $78 in 2001, 4.1% and 3.5% of the total
book market. In 1994 this figure equaled to 44.9 million books sold,
according to references listed below.
The leading publishers seem to be Random House, Alfred A. Knopf,
Crown/Clarkson Potter, HarperCollins, IDG Books, Doubleday and
Broadway.
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UNIT SHARE OF ADULT BOOKS SOLD BY SELECT GENRES[*]
PERCENTAGE
1999 2001 POINT CHANGE
General fiction 6.4% 10.0% +3.6
Mystery/thriller 13.8% 15.0% +1.2
General nonfiction 0.9% 1.3% +0.4
Religious 13.0% 13.5% +0.5
History 2.3% 2.4% +0.1
Biography/autobiography 3.1% 3.0% -0.1
Cooking 3.7% 3.5% -0.2
Romance 20.7% 20.0% -0.7
Self-help 5.2% 4.4% -0.8
Science fiction 6.5% 5.5% -1.0
Business 5.8% 4.2% -1.6
[*] Numbers do not add to 100 because no all genres are listed.
"Sales of books to consumers last year totaled $22.4 billion, up from
$21.6 billion in 2000 and from $20.5 billion in 1999, according to
Book Industry Trends, an annual publication distributed by the Book
Industry Study Group in Matawan, N.J. Retail stores and online outlets
accounted for the largest share of 2001 sales--67 percent, or $15
billion. Direct-to-consumer outlets and book clubs captured another 20
percent of the market, or $4.5 billion, and non-textbook sales in
college bookstores claimed the remaining 13 percent of last year's
revenues, or $2.9 billion."
Source: American Demographics “Reader Request: By The Book; US
consumer book market size as retail sales in dollars for 1999 and
2000, with percent sales market share breakdown for each of 11
genres,” page 8+
July 2002
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“US sales of mainstream cookbooks approached $42 mil in 1995, the last
year for which figures are available, or 4.1% of total book sales,
down $3 mil from the record in 1994, according to the American
Booksellers Association (Tarrytown, NY), which represents 4,300 retail
bookstores. “
Source: New York Times, “TOO Many Cooks, Yes, But Never Too Many
Cookbooks; US sales of mainstream cookbooks approach $42 mil in 1995,
4.1% of total book sales, down $3 mil from the record in 1994”, page
B27
January 24, 1997
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“According to the American Book Sellers Association, consumers
purchased 44.9 million cookbooks in 1994, up from 32 million in 1993.
(1995-96 figures were not available.) An association spokesman said
cookbooks have been "trending up" since 1992.”
Source: HFN, “ Cookbooks Serve Up Sales;
Consumers purchased 44.9 mil cookbooks in 1994 vs 32 mil in 1993”,
page 52
October 28, 1996
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BROWSING AND BUYING
(projected thousands of adults who may purchase selected types of
books, by sex, 2008: and percent change, 1998-2008)
Legend for Chart:
A - men
B - percent change 1998-2008
C - women
D - percent change 1998-2008
A B C D
Any book 42,336 5.8% 59,543 0.4%
Cookbook 6,442 10.5 58,147 -1.8
Mystery 11,813 42.9 15,001 1.0
Novel 14,878 28.5 21,807 -3.7
Science fiction 5,575 -3.4 3,775 -0.6
Children's 7,902 9.1 20,034 1.7
Romance 2,559 -7.6 35,895 28.9
Self-help 7,125 -1.6 8,097 -4.8
Religious 5,601 9.6 8,894 2.9
Note: self-help includes business and personal topics; religious
excludes Bibles.
BOOKISH AMERICANS
(projected thousands of adults who may buy at least one book a
year, by age and sex, 1998, 2005, and 2008, and percent change,
1998-2005 and 1998-2008)
percent change percent change
1998 2005 2008 1998-2005 1998-2008
MEN
total 39,998 41,652 42,336 4.1% 5.8%
18 to 24 5,252 5,738 5,869 9.3 11.7
25 to 34 9,008 8,249 8,372 -8.4 -7.1
35 to 44 9,564 9,055 8,568 -5.3 -10.4
45 to 54 7,873 9,006 9,190 14.4 16.7
55 to 64 3,987 5,198 5,762 30.4 44.5
65 and
older 4,315 4,407 4,576 2.1 6.0
WOMEN
total 58,306 58,824 59,543 -0.8% 0.4%
18 to 24 7,562 9,035 9,582 19.5 26.7
25 to 34 12,037 11,503 11,849 -4.4 -1.6
35 to 44 13,682 7,952 6,032 -41.9 -55.9
45 to 54 11,373 13,365 13,803 17.5 21.4
55 to 64 6,477 8,617 9,643 33.0 48.9
65 and
older 8,175 8,352 8,633 2.2 5.6
Source: American Demographics, “Ready Readers, Reluctant Readers;
Consumer book sales fell 4% in 1997, according to the Association of
American Publishers, and mass-market paperback sales fell 8%; but
increasing education could reverse this fall,” page 8, May 1998
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“Growth projected to be slower than in 2000 Projections released by
the Book Industry Study Group estimate that total book sales in 2001
will increase 3.2%, to $25.62 billion. If the forecast is right, the
sales growth in the year will be lower than the 4.5% gain posted in
2000. The association expects the sales increase to be fueled by price
increases as units are projected to dip 0.1%, to 2.49 billion.
Source: Publishers Weekly, “Book Sales Projected To Rise 3.2% in 2001;
US market size as dollar and unit sales for book publishers for 2000
and forecast for 2001, with breakdown for twelve segments”, page 9
June 18, 2001
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“Digital Chef, Inc., dedicated to making cooking and shopping more
convenient for consumers and publisher of the Web site
http://www.digitalchef.com, today announced an agreement with leading
cookbook publishers Random House, Alfred A. Knopf, Crown/Clarkson
Potter, HarperCollins, IDG Books, Doubleday and Broadway that allows
consumers a new method for trying recipes from a cookbook before they
buy it.”
…
“The agreement makes Digital Chef the most comprehensive online source
for sampling cookbook recipes and represents a unique cooperative
effort between traditional "print" publishers and an "online"
publisher. "We are pleased to announce our relationship with the
country's leading cookbook publishers," said Digital Chef president
Kevin Appelbaum.”
Source: PR Newswire, “Digital Chef Partners With Leading Publishers
to Provide Recipes From New and Existing Cookbooks Over the Internet;
Web Site's New Cookbook Showcase Allows Consumers to Sample Recipes
Before Buying Cookbooks” PR Newswire Association, Inc., December 19,
1997
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
TOP 20 US Book Publishers (by sales) [not all necessarily publish
cookbooks]
Company Name, City, State, Sales (US$)
Thomson Licensing Corporation Claymont Delaware 7,000.00
Pearson Plc. (ADR) London NA 6,083.71
McGraw-Hill Companies New York New York 4,645.54
Pearson Education Upper Saddle River New Jersey 2,619.76
Scholastic Corporation New York New York 1,917.00
Primedia Inc. New York New York 1,691.00
Bertelsmann Inc. New York New York 1,282.70
Thomson Holdings Corporation Stamford Connecticut 1,000.00
Bertelsmann Inc. New York New York 1,000.00
West Group Rochester New York 1,000.00
Pearson Technology Group Indianapolis Indiana 1,000.00
HarperCollins Publishers Inc. New York New York 975.50
Addison Wesley Boston Massachusetts 900.00
Encyclopedia Britannica Inc Chicago Illinois 750.00
R R Donnelley Crawfordsville Indiana 750.00
Lifeway Christian Resources Nashville Tennessee 750.00
National Geographic Society Washington District of Columbia 749.50
John Wiley & Sons Hoboken New Jersey 734.40
Kalmbach Publishing Co. Waukesha Wisconsin 512.00
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. / McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Division Burr Ridge Illinois 500.0
Source: US Business Onsource http://businessbrowser.onesource.com/
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Other cookbook publishers encountered in readings:
Crown Books Corp (Annual Sales: $299.5m)
Silverback Books
Cucina Casalinga
KQED Books & Video
Perigee Books
International Masters Publs
S&S
Bristol Publishing
Aris books
Chronicle books
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Search keywords
Cookbook publishers
Cooking books
Cookbooks
Cookbook market share
Cookbook market size
Cookbook market industry study
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Let me know if this satisfies your questions. I would be willing to
help you get more information on the publishers given that I couldn’t
find the unit sales per publishers. I did, by the way, look into the
SEC reports to look for these figures, and couldn’t find them there
either.
Claudietta |
