The Christian Suppliers’ Group (CSG) in association with The Publishers Association are delighted to announce publication of the first edition of the UK Christian Publishing and Retail Yearbook. Drawing on Nielsen BookScan’s retail sales data, it offers the first ever evidence-based estimate of the size and value of the UK Christian publishing market.
The size of the UK Christian books market is estimated at between £101m and £183m per annum. This puts the value of the Christian sector at somewhere between 6 and 11 percent of the Nielsen BookScan Total Consumer Market figure for books sold in the UK in 2010.
The Yearbook is an essential resource for retailers and publishers of Christian books, to help them identify various genres and niche markets and spot trends in the market, and to set a base line for more thorough data reporting and analysis for future years.
The Yearbook is an invaluable tool for publishers enabling them to achieve the following key tasks:
- Target product commissioning and release to maximise exposure and sales;
- Identify trends in different genres and produce titles to fulfil gaps in the market;
- Track sales with more accuracy and understanding and identify where sales may be being missed;
- Track sales through the bookshops not just into the bookshops;
- Manage reprints more closely, leading to greater profitability.
As well as the obvious benefits to the publisher the Yearbook will provide retailers with the required tools and knowledge to perform the following:
- Identify areas where their own sales are strong or weak against the national sales and adjust their stock accordingly;
- Plan store layout to maximise bestselling titles and genres;
- Identify promotional opportunities by building better relationships with publishers;
- Coordinate the nationwide bestsellers to meet local needs;
- Understand niche sales opportunities by recognising newly developing trends (e.g. social justice);
- Understand the importance of reporting their sales to a central gathering point.
The Yearbook was developed with input from the Christian Booksellers Group of the Booksellers Association as well as individual member organisations within the Christian Suppliers Group and The Publishers Association.
Mark Hurley, Trust Media Group, said, “This is an important milestone for publishers and resellers alike in understanding the market that they operate in and an important first step.”
Ian Metcalfe, Director of Publishing for Hodder Faith and Chairman of the Christian Suppliers Group, said, ‘Three years ago we reviewed what the Christian Suppliers Group was for and what it should be doing, and established that our members’ number one priority was to get meaningful data on the size of our market, and where it’s going. It’s been a long time coming, but with some false starts and a lot of hard work, we have finally got there. The Yearbook is a major milestone towards establishing a realistic ongoing insight into the shape and direction of our market, and I am confident that it will prove a major benefit for publishers and retailers alike.’
Joanna Moriarty, Publishing Director at SPCK, said ‘I’m delighted towelcome this report. For the first time publishers and retailers can get a sense of the size and importance of the market for Christian books.The reportgives us a vital tool for making better decisions in commissioning and marketing, and for buying and stocking. It will be a valuable resource for us and for the whole book industry’
Mark Clifford, Chair, Christian Bookselling Group and manager of Sarum Books added: ‘The Christian Booksellers Group welcomes this project, which looks to be excellent value. It should provide a most valuable tool for retailers to learn more about our own businesses and so be able to offer an enhanced service to our customers in these challenging times. We look forward to its further development…’
The UK Christian Publishing and Retail Yearbook will be published on 4 July and is available to order from Nielsen BookScan at a price of £125 (plus VAT) and available in PDF format only (ISBN: 978-0-9569542-0-6). Members of the Christian Suppliers Group are eligible for a 60% discount reducing the price to £50 plus VAT and The Booksellers Association is offering a subsidy to its members enabling retailers in the Christian Booksellers Group to purchase the Yearbook at £25 plus VAT.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
About the Christian Suppliers Group
The Christian Suppliers Group works alongside The Publishers Association to draw together publishers and other suppliers within the Christian market in the UK, aiming to build a better picture of the size and shape of the Christian market, to offer training and advice on best practice, and to provide a point of liaison with the Booksellers Association Christian Booksellers Group.
For further information about the Christian Suppliers Group contact:
Kate Bostock, Trade Services Officer, The Publishers Association
t: +44 (0207) 691 1375 or email: kbostock@publishers.org.uk
About Nielsen Book
Nielsen Book has four key brands: Registration Agencies (ISBN and SAN Agencies for UK & Ireland, ISTC), BookData, BookNet and BookScan. The Nielsen BookScan service provides the world’s only continuous retail monitoring service for English-language books in the UK, Ireland, US, Australia, South Africa, Italy, New Zealand, Denmark, Spain and India. The company launched LibScan in 2009, allowing the collection and analysis of library borrowing data. The company is wholly owned by Nielsen. For more information, please visit: www.nielsenbook.co.uk
About Nielsen
Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and related assets. The company has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information on Nielsen, visit www.nielsen.com.
For further information about Nielsen contact:
Mo Siewcharran – Head of Marketing, Nielsen Book
t: +44 (0)1483 712 300 or email: Mo.Siewcharran@nielsen.com
Orders should be sent to:
David Walter – Research & Development Analyst, Nielsen BookScan
t: +44 (0)1483 712 353 or email: David.Walter@nielsen.com