Book Publishing in Australia - Industry Market Research Report

End of story: Online book sales from foreign publishers have shredded industry revenue

Operators in the Book Publishing industry have faced challenging operating conditions over the past five years. Consumers have been increasingly buying print books and ebooks online rather than shopping at local bookstores, which has limited demand for domestically published books. Traditionally, local publishers have relied on parallel import restrictions (PIRs) to protect their revenue. These restrictions prevent Australian companies from undertaking large-scale imports of books that have been published domestically within 30 days of their international release. Although major foreign book-retailing websites can offer foreign-published books directly to individual Australian consumers, solid demand for trade books has supported the industry's performance over the past five years. Overall, industry revenue is expected to decline at an annualised 0.4% over the five years through 2022-23, to $1.8 billion. This trend includes an anticipated decline of 2.5% in the current year, as discretionary incomes fall.

Industry players publish books, atlases, textbooks, travel guides and ebooks. Firms that publish books exclusively on the internet are excluded from the industry.

This report covers the scope, size, disposition and growth of the industry including the key sensitivities and success factors. Also included are five year industry forecasts, growth rates and an analysis of the industry's key players and their market shares.