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News, features and resources for media and publishing professionals. Friday, March 24, 2002 Blogs | Subscribe | Interviews | Events | Films | Book Blog Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs AAP CEO Says Publishing Industry's "Demise" Greatly Exaggerated "Negative reports about the publishing industry's imminent demise seem to be surfacing every week," Pat Schroeder, President and CEO of the Association of American Publishers (AAP) said in a recent speech. "But, to paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports of our death are greatly exaggerated." Speaking to a meeting of the National Federation of Abstract and Information Services at the Hilton Towers in New York, Mrs. Schroeder pointed out that overall book sales are projected to rise 2.8 percent in 2002. "While this may be modest growth," she pointed out, "it's a far cry from the end of the world." Mrs. Schroeder noted that gains are expected in the K-12, college, adult trade, mass market, and professional and scholarly market segments. "AAP's monthly sales statistics for the first three months of this year show publisher's sales up, with some categories posting very positive gains. Sales for bookstores have risen 3.5 percent for the fiscal year ending February 2002." Mrs. Schroeder's outlook was determinedly positive in the face of some persistent nay-saying she finds hard to understand. Some recent negativity in the press includes an article that ran in the Washington Post with the heading, "An Industry Insider's Gloomy Book Report". The article reported on recent comments by Michael Cader, publisher of Cader Books and Publishers Lunch, who said the book publishing industry is in a "death spiral". Cader said that a recent Book Industry Study Group report shows that estimates of total book sales in 2006 will be less than the total amount of books sold in 2001. Also, Publishers Weekly reported last week that bookstore sales were down for the second straight month in March according to U.S. Census Bureau preliminary estimates. "It seems that no one wants to accept any good news about this industry. Our statistics show sales for publishers have been up for the first three months in 2002; these statistics are certainly not showing a drastic downturn but rather growth for the industry," she said. "When I first came to AAP five years ago I said I was determined to detach the adjective 'beleaguered' from publishing. I thought we'd passed that psychological hurdle, but apparently there are recidivists among us," she quipped. Related Links: · Association of American Publishers · Cader Books Click here to return to the homepage of The Write NewsTM Click here to subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter. www.writenews.com Copyright © 1997-2007 by Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved.