An exploration of relationships between Independent Publishers and Research Libraries

1. Independent Publishing Group
An exploration of relationships between
Independent Publishers and Research Libraries
Team Members: Amy Ballmer • Albert Municino • Judith Schwartz • Robert Weiss

2. Our Report
Summarizes the strategies and findings:
● Investigates the relationships — or absence thereof —
between research libraries and independent
publishers.
● Objective was to create some type of conduit between
indie publishers and research libraries.

3. Our Strategy
Initiated communications with 3 groups:
● Independent publishers
● Research libraries
● Independent bookstores

4. Our Research Methods
•
•
Sent two separate comprehensive surveys to librarians
& independent publishers
•
Conducted follow-up interviews
•
Created a comprehensive literature review
•
We attended trade shows and publishing events
•
Made direct contacts with publishers

5. Our Research Methods

6. Our Website
http://metroindiepubgroup.weebly.com/

7. U.S. Publishing Industry
● Employs almost 750,000 people
● Generates annual revenues of $28 billion
● Produces roughly 315,000 new titles annually
● Fewer than 2% of publishers account for 80% of
revenues

8. Five Largest U.S. Publishers
Company
Publisher
Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon Publishing
Walt Disney Company
Disney Publishing Worldwide
News Corporation
HarperCollins
Bertelsmann AG
Random House
CBS Corporation
Simon & Schuster

9. Major Industry Trends
●
● Consolidation
● Digitization
● Self-publishing

10. Independent Publishers
Nielsen BookScan: In 2011 indie publishers were
responsible for almost 50% of all trade book
sales in the United States.
● John F. Baker: “The main thing to remember about smaller
publishers is that most of them are looking to find gaps in the market
left by the more ambitious national plans of the big ones.”
● James LaRue: “Independent publishers produce a lot of fine, far
more diverse writing” than the conglomerates.

11. Major Indie Titles
• Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
• Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Cookbook by Robert C. Atkins
• An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore
• Mad Libs (Series) by Roger Price and Leonard Stern
• The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Shopra
• Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

12. Surveying the Field
●
● Publishers
○ How are they currently marketing to libraries
○ What percentage of sales are to research libraries
○ What barriers do they face
● Libraries
○ Important to include indie publishers in collection?
○ How do libraries purchase books?
○ What barriers do they face?

13. Survey Results
● Interest in including independent press
publications in libraries
● Overwhelmed by amount of books published
each year
● Can be difficult to purchase directly from
publishers/authors
● Budget constraints

14. Recommendations
●
● Distributors
● Credit cards vs. purchase orders
● Library conferences and book fairs
● Importance of book reviews

15. Resources / Conclusion
●
● Website | http://bit.ly/1fbnPOA
• Thanks | To Metro for your support~!