RETHINKING COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES IN THE AMERICAN TRADE-BOOK INDUSTRY.

Introduction

The American trade-book industry offers a rather unique challenge for the application of theories and principles of competitive strategy. Despite the mergers with and acquisitions by publishing and entertainment conglomerates: (a)

publishing housing (and their imprints, or divisions) continue to be small; (b) profit margins are low; (c) the synergy that was expected by the mergers into multimedia and entertainment companies has not been achieved; and, (d) the trade-book industry continues to defy the predictions that electronic and other media will totally absorb and eclipse physical books.

Some of the problems in defining competitive strategy for the trade-book industry may be categorized as: (a) unique, atypical features of the industry; (b) the persistence of certain "archaic" practices; and (c) the inappropriateness of the application of current management trends. What seems apparent here is that there is a need for a "rethinking" of competitive strategies for the American-trade-book industry.

The Trade-Book Industry

The trade-book industry is a sizable sector of the entire book industry, and accounts for a little more than 2/3, or 68.6%, of total book production. It publishes books for the general consumer and sells them primarily through general bookstores, mail order, and mass-market channels. Its marketing strategies are different from those of the professional, technical, reference, and textbook publishers, which have more clear-cut, specific markets. They have different marketing channels, and their operations have more built-in certainties than those of tradebook publishers. By contrast, the market for trade books is the general public--a very amorphous market, fraught with ambiguities and uncertainties.

Trade books include: (a) adult and juvenile hardcover and quality paperbound books; (b) books produced for distribution through book clubs; (c) mail-order books specifically created for the general readership; and (d) rack-sized, mass-market paperback books sold primarily through newsstands, drugstores and supermarkets (Book Industry Study Group (BISG), 1997).

Sources of Data

Sources of data for this paper come from published compilations by the book industry and other independent sources (e.g., Fortune magazine). Opinions and perspectives on various issues come from published statements of publishing practitioners (publishers, editors, writers), economists, and other industry watchers. Current events in the book industry are taken from news reports.