BBC History Magazine sold nine thousand more print copies last year than they did in 2000.
The London Review of Books sold almost 40k more print copies than in 2000.
And Private Eye, 50k more.
In our “Celebration of Print” special feature in this issue, Anthem Publishing’s Jon Bickley writes, “print is our past, present and future”.
Given that over the last 25 years, print circulations have declined for many titles, in some cases dramatically, and a number of print titles have closed, this might sound a bit counterintuitive.
The declines are due to the increased competition from digital and, in terms of business viability, the migration of advertising online.
But, people still clearly enjoy reading in print. Take the book market as an example; you just have to walk into your local Waterstones to see that it’s absolutely buzzing.
According to the Publishers Association, when reporting 2022 UK sales figures: “Print remains king for consumer books, at £1.8 billion (up 2%) whilst digital grew by 2% but still only accounts for £423 million.” (In education publishing, print also significantly outperforms digital, whilst in academic publishing, digital outperforms print.)
So, it’s not the medium that’s the problem, it’s what you put on it.
What Private Eye et al have demonstrated is that when it comes to top quality written content, print remains a highly attractive and commercially successful route to market.
This should come as no surprise. As I wrote in our InPubWeekly newsletter recently, from a reader’s perspective, print is special, because:
- It’s immersive. It has their undivided attention.
- It’s a pleasurable reading experience.
- It looks great! Print provides a lovely broad canvas with which to present stunning imagery and design.
- It’s trustworthy. There is a permanence about print that makes publishers pay special attention to getting it right.
- It has a long shelf life. It’s a physical presence in your bag / by your bedside / on your desk / gracing your coffee table.
- It’s part of their identity; it has a cover, so tells the world a bit about who they are.
In the special feature, four publishers tell us about their print strategy and 14 suppliers drill down into specific aspects of print publishing and tell us how success can be achieved. And they each provide three top tips! I hope you find their insights useful.
This article was first published in InPublishing magazine. If you would like to be added to the free mailing list to receive the magazine, please register here.
