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Welcome to the Book Sales Index web site.

The digital Book Sales Index, or BSI, provides managers with comprehensive and authoritative 2008 estimates and 2009-2013 projections for net publishers’ revenues and net publishers’ units in all of the key channels of distribution (book stores; specialty retailers; educational adoptions; libraries and institutions; and internet sales) for all major book categories (trade; religion; book clubs and book fairs; mail order; professional-scholarly; education; university press; standardized tests; and subscription reference).

The Book Sales Index also contains:

  • a detailed 19 page outline of the methodology used to determine book category estimates and projections;
  • a 15 page glossary of book industry terms;
  • a revised 60 page summary of revenue as of July 2009.
  • 27 pages of book imports and exports from 1970-2008;
  • 46 pages of historical and current economic data tables (some tables cover 1992-2009);
  • 11 pages on reading trends in the U.S.; and
  • 113 pages of PW’s best seller lists (1994-2007) listing annual unit sales for +2,000 bestsellers in eight book categories (adult hardcover fiction; adult hardcover non-fiction; trade paperbacks; mass market paperbacks; juvenile hardcover frontlist; juvenile hardcover backlist; juvenile paperback frontlist; juvenile paperback backlist). This is the first time 14 years worth of PW’s unit data has ever been collected into one document. PW’s 2008 totals will be added in the coming months.

While five year projections are helpful in the budgetary process, today the U.S. economy (along with the global economy) and the entire U.S. book industry face uncertain, volatile business conditions. This means that executives need substantive industry data on a monthly or a quarterly basis, and not just annual updates.

To address this pressing need:

  • certain book categories in the Book Sales Index’s summary (net publishers’ revenues; net publishers’ units; and annual percentage changes) will be updated quarterly; and
  • key U.S. economic datasets will be updated on a monthly basis (book store sales; the Consumer Price Index; consumer credit; unemployment rates; personal income; disposable personal income; etc.).

The goal is to provide a comprehensive “one stop shopping” digital web site. All subscribers to the Book Sales Index will receive monthly emails announcing our economic data updates (generally between the 1st and the 5th of each month; starting in May 2009 through March 2010).

Quarterly updates will be made between the 1st and 5th of July 2009, October 2009, and January 2010.

In April 2010, final estimates for 2009 along with five year projections for 2010-2014 will be available, along with the monthly economic data updates.

If there is a significant event in the U.S. economy and/or in the book industry that impacts book industry business conditions (for example, book revenues), an additional summary update will be issued in addition to the July, October, January, and April schedule listed above.

We will not offer printed and bound versions of the Book Sales Index; all of the information will be available digitally to subscribers on our web site, enabling us to respond quickly to any changing business events or conditions.

The Book Sales Index web site contains information about subscriptions and other issues. If you have any questions, please contact us at:agreco@booksalesindex.com

Thanks for your interest, and we hope you find your subscription useful!