4172.0 - Arts and Culture in Australia: A Statistical Overview, 2004 (Reissue)  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 06/09/2006  Reissue
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PRODUCTS

In 2002-03, book publishers sold 114.4 million books with a total value of $1,369.4m to book retailers and directly to the general public. Some $877.0m (77.2 million books) of these were sales of new Australian titles. Approximately 15% (by value) of all books published were sold overseas, predominantly to the United States and New Zealand.


Educational books accounted for 40% of sales, with general non-fiction accounting for 34%, general fiction 17% and specialised children's books 9%.

11.1 DOMESTIC AND EXPORT SALES OF BOOKS, By Category - 2002-03

Domestic sales
Export sales(a)
Total
$m
$m
$m

Printed books
Education
Primary
132.5
53.8
186.3
Secondary
101.1
6.0
107.2
Tertiary
132.9
10.5
143.4
Professional and reference
93.4
*17.5
110.9
Total education
459.9
87.8
547.8
General
Hardback
Nonfiction
133.4
*25.9
159.3
Fiction
81.3
4.6
85.9
Children's
43.0
5.6
48.6
Total hardback
257.7
36.1
293.8
Trade paperback(b)
Nonfiction
153.7
*67.5
221.2
Fiction
68.3
1.6
69.8
Children's
21.8
*4.0
25.8
Total trade paperback
243.8
*73.0
316.8
Mass-market paperback(c)
Nonfiction
77.5
3.3
80.7
Fiction
77.4
4.5
81.9
Children's
36.5
4.7
41.2
Total mass-market paperback
191.4
12.5
203.8
Total general
692.9
121.6
814.5
Total printed books
1 152.8
209.4
1 362.3
Electronic books
Education
np
np
2.7
General
np
np
4.4
Total electronic
7.0
0.1
7.1
Total books
1 159.8
209.5
1 369.4

* estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) Includes re-export sales of $7.4m and excludes sales of rights of $4.6m.
(b) An alternative format to hardback with the same dimensions, but with a soft cover.
(c) The conventional form of paperback book.
ABS, Book Publishers, 2002-03 (cat. no. 1363.0).


Book publishers reported selling $329.7m worth of books to final consumers in 2002-03. By comparison, the 2002-03 Book Retailers Survey reported 76 million new books valued at $1,274.9m were sold via retail outlets. Approximately 58% of these were sold by bookshops, 27% by department stores, 9% by newsagents and 6% by supermarkets and other large retailers. The figures suggest that many readers are by-passing book retailers with approximately 20% of the income from sales to final consumers being earned by book publishers, often selling by subscription or straight to public and private organisations and schools.



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