Book Publishers and Exclusive Agents: Data Tables

These tables provide information on the production and performance of book publishers and exclusive agents operating in Canada. Data are available on the number of titles published, reprinted and in print by type of book; the number of units sold by type of book; net sales, sales in Canada, exports and other foreign sales; grants received; number of employees and salaries; international transactions; and total revenue, expenses and profits. Data are available by province or by region.

Data for 2004 should not be compared with data released previously on this industry since significant changes to the book publishing survey have been made.

These changes include:

• The data are collected using a sample and represent 95% of total revenue earned by the book publishing industry;
• The survey frame is based on a central Statistics Canada database of businesses that have been classified through the use of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS);
• Self publishers, vanity publishers and print-on-demand publishers were not previously considered as book publishers but are now included in the survey; and
• Exclusive agents who earn at least 10% of their revenue from book publishing will be considered in scope for the survey; pure exclusive agents are excluded.

Back-casting of Book Publishers Data for 2000 and 1998

So that key trends can still be determined, this release includes data that were produced for 1998 and 2000, using this new 2004 methodology. 

Identification information for the records that were in the 2004 survey was used in the creation of survey data for reference years 2000 and 1998 (the two previous years this survey was released). Data previously collected in 2000 and 1998 were used when they were available. Where historical data were not available, values were imputed from administrative data or from trends based on collected survey data.

Adjustments were then made to cover two situations: 

1. Where reliable information did not exist for establishments that would have been part of the newly defined population coverage in 2003 or 2001, but no longer existed in 2004 (establishments that had “died”).

2. If we did not have reliable information to determine which units now covered in the 2004 survey (but were not covered in 2003 or 2001) had not yet existed (births). Ratios derived from Business Register counts for the historical years were used to calibrate the previous years’ data.

Since the Business Register is subject to classification error, and there is a time lag before deaths are removed and births are added, ratios derived using its data are approximate. Therefore, back-casted estimates should be used with caution.  Nevertheless, back-casted data are our best estimates using all the information available of the data that would have been produced if we had collected data using the new methodology and coverage.