£3.5bn


Total print sales were up 5% to a value of £3.5bn, according to the PA


7%


The PA says home sales rose by 7% last year, with export sales up 2%


14%


Growth from the audio download market was 14% in 2021


e-books were enjoyed across the industry. But it cannot be in the interests of the consumer in the longer-term to have our entire industry reliant upon a single platform in order to be able to reach our customers.” He said a new


regulatory regime would place require- ments on tech giants. “In the case of


Amazon, it could say there is a ‘must carry’ requirement, so that they cannot turn around to publishers and say, ‘We are not going to put your books on our plat-


form if you don’t agree these specific terms with us’. It could also say they are not allowed to use all the information they get from every single bookseller operating on their platform in order to be able to decide how they price their own books.”


When asked about the recent petition calling on Amazon to cut its e-book refunds window, Lotinga said: “The problem we have is that there is no other alternative[…] no choice other than to say, ‘I’m not going to sell e-books.’ That cannot be a long-term benefit for consumers and for publishers and, of course, authors.” Looking at the sector’s success this year, Lotinga said he remains “confident” that publishing will continue to grow, but noted some concerns about the cost-of-living crisis. “There is concern that it might impact our industry, but of course the key response to that is continuing to produce the best possible books that we can, so people see them as a core part of their lives,” he told The Bookseller. “I think we should remain confident. Books are incredibly well-priced in the UK. We have among the cheapest books in the world and I know many people complain about that in the industry, but that means we are well positioned to continue to ensure they remain affordable for people during this difficult period. The other thing I would say is, as an industry, we are incredibly well diversified: 60% of our revenues continue to come from exports, and that ensures that we are not just reliant on what’s going on in the UK. We are selling books all around the world and therefore it’s not a situation where we are


TheBookseller.com


PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION C.E.O. STEPHEN LOTINGA


just in one localit trying to respond to those particular circumstances.”


Tough lessons However, due to continued lockdowns in some parts of the world, the education sector experienced another difficult year. While total education publishing income was up 5% from last year to £552m, this was still down on £668m in 2019—and it is the only sector not to have returned to pre-pandemic levels. Its UK market rose 12% to £198m but the export market remained almost level, only up 1% on last year to £354m, much lower than the £482m it recorded in 2019.


Likewise education sales in print went up


by 1% to £467m, much lower than £606m in 2019, but digital surged 28% to £85m. The report said this showed how blended resources helped to support learners through a disrupted period. The top three export coun- tries in education were Spain, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Only the UAE saw an increase in sales.


Lotinga said: “Aſter the pandemic, I think probably more so than any of our sectors, some of the changes to the way education publishing works in the future are permanent changes. As publishers, we need to demonstrate that we are the obvious place for people to continue their learning in the future.” He noted that ELT has “dropped signifi- cantly” and people are “increasingly learning online”, although the increase in digital sales come from a relatively small place. School purchasing has also seen a big shiſt to online and although Lotinga says he is “very confident” these sales will pick up again in the future, there will be “some permanent shiſts in terms of purchasing paterns from physical to digital that will stay with the industry long


into the future”.


He expressed concern about the government’s plan to move the Oak National Academy—an online classroom platform created in April 2020 as a response to the coronavirus outbreak—into public hands. He warned against “any atempt by the government to create a permanent state publisher”, claiming this could “lead to a reduction in private sector investment which has helped to drive one of the world’s leading education publishing sectors”. “The government needs to tread very carefully about seeking to intervene directly into the market in the way that it appears to be considering,” he said, but insisted the PA was having “positive conversations and further discussions” with civil servants and the government on the issue.


As publishers, we need to demonstrate that we are the obvious place for people to continue their learning in future


Stephen Lotinga, PA c.e.o. On the academic side, income rose 4%


to £3.5bn, with home sales up 14% to £1bn. However, the export market remained static at £2.4bn. Print also saw no change, remaining on £862m, but digital was up 5% to £2.6bn and books were up 8% to £1.1bn. Journal sales also rose 2% to £2.3bn. The report noted that journal exports (worth £1.9bn) continue to account for more than 50% of academic publishing’s sales income. The top three export countries were the US, Germany and Australia. Germany’s sales were down but the US and Australia saw increases. “The academic research market overall was reasonably stable in 2021, reflecting the universit sector’s return to some semblance of normalit as global lockdowns eased,” said David Ross, chair of the Academic Publishers’ Council and vice-president for open research at SAGE Publishing. “The UK market showed good growth for books and journals. Export markets were tougher, reflecting the uneven global economic impact of the pandemic. Unsurprisingly, the shiſt from print to online continues. The journal market continues to transition to more open models, with the number of Transformative Agreements continuing to rise globally, steadily increasing the proportion of research works available without restriction.”


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