British publishing breaks revenue records but textbook sales are hit | The Bookseller

"British publishing houses broke all previous revenue records in 2017 to see their collective sales rise 5% to £5.7bn, driven by a growth in export sales which now account for 60% of publishers’ revenues. However, while most areas of business performed robustly, domestic sales of textbooks to schools took a 12% hit, revealing that savage public sector cuts are starting to bite in the education. Sales of children’s books also slid by 3%, while domestic sales of consumer e-books plunged by 9%. The statistics have been revealed in the Publishers Associations’ PA Publishing Yearbook 2017, which records publishers’ invoiced sales. This year the revenue gained from co-edition, rights and licensing sales has been included to give a more accurate reflection of earnings and help to underline the sector's position as a “powerhouse of the creative industries,” according to PA c.e.o. Stephen Lotinga....

In general the academic sector experienced a robust year, with physical and digital book sales combined up 6% to £1.2bn, while journals sales rose 5% to £1.6bn. Sales of social sciences and humanity print books were up 9% and STM print books were up 8%. Meanwhile, total income from Open Access charges rose by 21%....

The numbers also reflect a clear shift away from subscription income and toward Open Access article publication charges with journals while the share of journal income from subscriptions fell from 82% in 2013 to 76% in 2017. The share of journal income from article publication charges increased from 2% to 9% over the same period...."