1. AAUP 2010 Annual Meeting
Salt Lake City, Utah
Prepared by Kimberly Schmelzinger
2. Introduction
Data Methodology
Highlights: 2009 Survey
State of the Industry
The Future: Questions and Issues
Q&A
6/17/2010 2
3. AAUP Annual Statistics have been collected for over 30
years.
Captures valuable information on the scholarly publishing
industry.
This is a benchmarking report: collected statistics that
enables the comparison of performance across
institutions in the industry.
Data should be used as a means of evaluating own
practices, not as formal comparative measurements.
The statistics are a valuable tool for understanding the
university press community, but they should not be
applied rigorously as standards or targets.
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4. 60 presses participated in this year’s survey, decrease of 6
presses from last year’s 66.
Data is collected from participating presses, consolidated
across groups, across fulfillment types, and across all presses;
all data results are expressed as percentages of net sales to
preserve confidentiality and to facilitate comparisons.
Some measures are expressed as averages, e.g., average
employees and average titles per employee.
Sales Groups are as follows:
Group 1: Up to $1.5 million Group 3: $3 million to $6 million
Group 2: $1.5 million to $3 million Group 4: Over $6 million
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5. ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN UNIVERSITY PRESSES
ANNUAL STATISTICS 2006 THROUGH 2009
Participating Presses
The University of Alabama Press (1) University of Nebraska Press (3)
The University of Arizona Press (2) University Press of New England (2)
The University of Arkansas Press (1) University of New Mexico Press (2)
University of British Columbia Press (2) New York University Press (3)
University of California Press (4) The University of North Carolina Press (3)
The Catholic University of America (1) Northern Illinois University Press (1)
The University of Chicago Press (4) Northwestern University Press (1)
University Press of Colorado (1) University of Oklahoma Press (3)
Columbia University Press (4) University of Pennsylvania Press (3)
Cornell University Press (3) The Pennsylvania State University Press (2)
Duke University Press (3) University of Pittsburgh Press (1)
Gallaudet University Press (1) Princeton University Press (4)
Georgetown University Press (3) Purdue University Press (1)
University of Georgia Press (2) Rutgers University Press (2)
Harvard University Press (4) University of South Carolina Press (1)
University of Hawai'i Press (3) Southern Illinois University Press (1)
University of Illinois Press (3) Stanford University Press (3)
Indiana University Press (3) Syracuse University Press (1)
The Johns Hopkins University Press (4) Teachers College Press (3)
University Press of Kansas (2) Temple University Press (2)
The Kent State University Press (1) University of Texas Press (3)
The University Press of Kentucky (2) Texas A&M University Press (2)
Louisiana State University Press (2) University of Utah Press (1)
The University of Massachusetts Press (1) Utah State University Press (1)
The MIT Press (4) Vanderbilt University Press (1)
The University of Michigan Press (3) The University of Virginia Press (2)
University of Minnesota Press (3) University of Washington Press (2)
University Press of Mississippi (2) Wesleyan University Press (1)
University of Missouri Press (1) University of Wisconsin Press (2)
Naval Institute Press (3) Yale University Press (4)
6/17/2010 5
6. Net sales for 2009 across all 60 reporting
presses were $255.8 million, a decrease of
10.5% (2008 = $285 million).
Sales declined for the period 2006-2009 by
4.1%, compared to last year’s compound
growth rate of 10.1%.
Returns were 21.5% of shipments, an
increase from 2008’s rate of 20.5%.
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7. 2009 2008 2007 2006
Group 1: Up to $1,500,000 19 18 17 17
Group 2: $1,500,000 to $3,000,000 16 16 16 15
Group 3: $3,000,000 to $6,000,000 17 17 16 16
Group 4: Over $6,000,000 8 8 8 8
All Presses 60 59 57 56
Based on respondents to the 2009 survey
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8. Net Average Cumulative
Operating Average Full Time Sales
# of Average Net Total Income/ Titles Equivalent Increase
Presses Total Net Sales Sales Returns Expenses (Expense) Published Staff 2006-09
Group 1 19 $14,900,000 $780,000 21.3% 123.0% (65.8%) 40 11.7 (9.0%)
Group 2 16 $31,000,000 $1,900,000 22.8% 108.1% (48.2%) 72 21.5 (15.1%)
Group 3 17 $69,700,000 $4,100,000 21.2% 84.6% (21.2%) 118 35.5 (7.0%)
Group 4 8 $140,200,000 $17,500,000 21.4% 76.9% (17.2%) 241 86.4 (0.4%)
All 60 $255,800,000 $4,300,000 21.5% 85.4% (24.9%) 118 38.8 (4.1%)
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11. Total operating expenses reported in 2009
were $219 million, or 85.4% of sales.
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12. Total Operating Expenses as
Year Expenses Total Net Sales Percent of Sales
2009 $218,591,000 $255,827,000 85.4%
2008 $224,244,000 $284,989,000 78.7%
2007 $209,129,000 $271,924,000 76 .9%
2006 $196,675,000 $259,783,000 75.7%
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13. Net operating expense, before parent
institution support and other subsidies, was
24.9% of net sales, increased from 17.2% in
2008.
For all university presses, net expense was
1.7% of sales in 2009, a decrease from 2008’s
2.9% and the 5.0% reported for 2007.
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14. 46 presses reported support of $22,200,000 for 2009.
Parent institution support in 2009 stood at 8.7% of net
sales. For previous years, the percentages were:
2008 7.8%
2007 7.6%
2006 7.7%
Of the 46 presses reporting subsidies in 2009: 22
received increased support, 19 received decreases,
and 5 saw no change.
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15. 58 presses published 5,930 titles in 2009, an increase of
4.8% over 2008.
Compare this to the sales decrease of (10.5%) for 2009.
Straight reprints: just over 5,200.
Unit sales of clothbound books were 41.6% of total unit
sales in 2009, compared to 43.3% in 2008 and 37.2% in
2007.
In contrast, dollar sales of cloth were 53.9% of total dollars,
the first decline since 2005.
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16. External Fulfillment Internal Fulfillment All
Group1 $89,000 $62,000 $78,000
Group 2 $103,000 $79,000 $90,000
Group 3 $170,000 $90,000 $131,000
Group 4 $200,000 n/a $192,000
All Presses $170,000 $88,000 $143,000
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18. Total inventory levels for all reporting presses were
$89,475,000 for 2009, an increase of less than
1.0% over the 2008 level of $88,888,000.
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20. Accounts receivable for 2009 was
$48,610,000, a decrease of 15% from 2008’s
reported level.
The ratio Days of Sales Outstanding
decreased for the 4th time in 4 years, ending
at 70 days in 2009.
2008: 73
2007: 74
2006: 76
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22. Number of Presses Fulfillment Expense as
Reporting % of Net Sales
Group 1 External 14 17.0%
Group 1 Internal 5 17.2%
Group 2 External 8 14.8%
Group 2 Internal 8 15.2%
Group 3 External 10 11.0%
Group 3 Internal 6 13.2%
Group 4 External 7 13.6%
Group 4 Internal 1 n/a
All External 39 13.3%
All Internal 20 14.1%
All Presses 59 13.4%
Group 1 Total 19 17.1%
Group 2 Total 16 15.0%
Group 3 Total 16 11.7%
Group 4 Total 8 13.6%
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25. Cloth Units Paper Units Cloth Dollars Paper Dollars
Group 1 36.3% 63.7% 49.0% 51.0%
Group 2 35.2% 64.8% 46.7% 53.3%
Group 3 27.9% 72.1% 41.9% 58.1%
Group 4 48.8% 51.2% 59.9% 40.1%
All Presses 41.6% 58.4% 53.9% 46.1%
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27. Returns as Returns as
Net $ Sales Net $ Sales Returns Returns % of sales, % of sales,
1 Jul 2009 to 1 Jul 2008 to 1 Jul 2009 to 1 Jul 2008 to Third Qtr Third Qtr
Grp # 31 Mar 2010 31 Mar 2009 % change 31 Mar 2010 31 Mar 2009 % change 2009-10 2008-09
1 24 $13,262,498 $13,051,313 1.6% $2,557,349 $3,309,079 -22.7% 16.2% 20.2%
2 18 $28,432,878 $29,546,813 -3.8% $6,113,170 $7,189,251 -15.0% 17.7% 19.6%
3 18 $62,455,493 $59,508,950 5.0% $11,376,514 $12,644,259 -10.0% 15.4% 17.5%
4 6 $81,004,225 $77,597,720 4.4% $17,046,469 $17,749,075 -4.0% 17.4% 18.6%
All 66 $185,155,094 $179,704,796 3.0% $37,093,502 $40,891,664 -9.3% 16.7% 18.5%
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28. number Net $ Sales Budgeted Sales
of 1 Jul 2009 to 1 Jul 2009 to
Group* responses 31 Mar 2010 31 Mar 2010 % change
1 15 $8,969,850 $9,136,761 -1.8%
2 14 $22,140,990 $23,248,508 -4.8%
3 16 $56,832,321 $54,720,266 3.9%
4 6 $81,004,225 $77,244,399 4.9%
All 51 $168,947,386 $164,349,934 2.8%
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29. 57 responding presses
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
jan feb mar apr may june july aug sept oct nov dec
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30. YES NO
Would data on inventory units be useful? 53.7% 46.3%
Can you provide? 66.0% 34.0%
Is sales data reported on Appendix 3 by
publication yr? 50.0% 50.0%
By true publication year, or by fiscal year? 29.4% 70.6%
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31. YES NO
Does the inc lusion of hurts/remainder
data distort Appendix 3? 64.2% 35.8%
Can you remove? 67.9% 32.1%
Should the data be removed from all
sc hedules (a la the c hange to
distributed presses reporting from 3
years ago)? 38.9% 61.1%
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32. YES NO
Does your parent institution allow you
to roll over Net Income (Expense) from
year to year? 77.2% 22.8%
Internal copy editing in inventory? 5.3% 94.7%
External copy editing in inventory? 15.8% 84.2%
Internal prod costs in inventory? 10.3% 89.7%
External prod costs in inventory? 41.4% 58.6%
WIP in inventory turnover? 32.8% 67.2%
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33. YES NO
Do you treat POD as reprint? 26.8% 73.2%
Dig print 2nd as reprint? 64.3% 35.7%
Short run 2nd as reprint? 71.4% 28.6%
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34. Additionally, 10 respondents stated that ebook data should be
included in the annual survey; half said that the data should be
incorporated into Appendix 3.
The Business Systems Committee held an electronic discussion in
March about the various ways this data could be included.
Other suggestions for Appendix 4 data gathering:
▪ how ebook editions are released (e.g., simultaneous with cloth or paper or both; or, if
after, how long?)
▪ What platforms are you using to archive your ebook files?
▪ Do you have access or control over these files? If not, where does access/control
reside?
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