Hoover's, Inc. Competition
Now Viewing Hoover's, Inc.'s competition in: Book Publishers (primary)
Recent Developments
Book Sales Rose in 2007 - US book sales rose 7.4 percent in 2007 compared to 2006, according to the Association of American Publishers. Adult hardcover sales rose 7.8 percent, while adult paperback sales rose 0.2 percent. Children/young adult hardcover sales rose 46.8 percent, and children/young adult paperback sales rose 6.5 percent.
Print-on-demand Gaining Traction - Growth in printing on demand (POD), or digital printing, is rising as product quality increases and publishers seek to reduce warehousing costs, according to <i>Publishers Weekly</i>. POD lets publishers sell a book before it's printed and then deliver it directly to a consumer, store, or publisher warehouse. While many publishers say that offset printing remains more cost-effective for print runs over about 1,000 copies, POD advocates argue that the cost-per-copy advantage of offset printing should be balanced against the cost of unsold copies sitting in warehouses, or sales lost because too few copies are printed.
Lawsuit may Curb Piracy - A settlement in a lawsuit against online textbook seller ValoreBooks.com may help prevent copyright infringement and intellectual property theft. The case, brought by four US publishers, claims that ValoreBooks.com permitted and assisted sales by third-party sellers of pirated educational materials and of foreign manufactured editions of textbooks not authorized for sale in North America. ValoreBooks.com will be prohibited from distributing or selling any of the plaintiff publishers' copyrighted textbooks and other foreign manufactured materials authorized for sale only outside the US.
Competitive Landscape
Demand for books is driven by demographics and is largely resistant to economic cycles. The profitability of individual companies depends on product development and marketing. Large publishers have an advantage in bidding for new manuscripts or authors. Small and midsized publishers can succeed if they focus on a specific subject or market. Because of the high value of the product, average annual revenue per employee is a high $300,000.
Book Publishers Industry Forecast
from Hoover's/D&B subsidiary First Research
The output of US book publishers is forecast to grow at an annual compounded rate of 4 percent between 2007 and 2012.
Book Publishing Growth Stabilizes
First Research forecasts are based on INFORUM forecasts that are licensed from the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc. (IERF) in College Park, MD. INFORUM's "interindustry-macro" approach to modeling the economy captures the links between industries and the aggregate economy.
First Research Opportunity Rating
The First Research Opportunity Rating is First Research's estimate of industry performance vs. industry risk over the next 12 to 24 months.
- Demand: Depends on consumer income
- Strong marketing skills required
- Risk: Slowing economy limits spending on non-essentials
Industries Where Hoover's, Inc. Competes
- Media
- Internet Content Providers (primary)
- Information Collection & Delivery
- Publishing
- Book Publishing
