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Startups Within the U.S. Book Publishing Industry

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Abstract

This article is based on a study of approximately 900 new businesses in the book publishing sector, most created since 2007. It seeks to gain a quantitative view of these startups, their business mission, funding and outcome. It discusses the forces that created an opportunity for these businesses.

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Notes

  1. Available for download at www.thefutureofpublishing.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Book_Publishing_Startups_latest_spreadsheet.zip.

  2. The economics of self publishing revenue is complicated by different revenue sharing based on retail price and whether the author uses a third-party intermediary to distribute their books to the major ebook online retailers.

  3. CrunchBase.com, CB Insights and AngelList provided much of the background information for funds raised.

  4. When companies go out of business they rarely make an announcement. My assessment of which companies are no longer operating is based mostly on the status of their web site. In some cases the site has disappeared. In other cases there's been no blog post for one or two years. Often the Twitter feed has dried up or the Facebook posts.

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Disclosures

I have no investments or current consulting relationships with the companies on this list.

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  1. The Future of Publishing, 2443 Fillmore St., #299, San Francisco, CA, 94115, USA

    Thad McIlroy

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  1. Thad McIlroy
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Correspondence to Thad McIlroy.

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McIlroy, T. Startups Within the U.S. Book Publishing Industry. Pub Res Q 33, 1–9 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-017-9500-0

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