Dorrance Publishing's Book Sales Up 27 Percent: Bucking The Trend

Online, March 3, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc of Pittsburgh announces its book sales revenue increased 27 percent and new book sales volume increased 17 percent during 2010 over the previous year. These remarkable statistics are in stark contrast to those of the national trends of the book publishing industry, which experienced overall declines in the same period.

Nationwide sales for the year were down for all print segments for publishers who report their sales to the American Association of Publishers, with the greatest decline of 14 percent seen in mass-market book sales. The only areas of sales in the traditional book publishing industry at large that experienced increases in 2010 were e-books, which were up 165 percent over the previous year, and download audibles. But these segments of the traditional market remain relatively small. And nevertheless the increases Dorrance reports were across the board, for both print and e-book formats.

When asked to which factors he attributes Dorrrance's substantial increases in the area of book sales last year, David Zeolla, Managing Director, stated, "It is widely accepted now that self-publishing has lost its stigma. Dorrance has been the premier company in the self-publishing industry for over 90 years. It has always had a reputation for quality work and service. Now the democratization of publishing makes the playing field more equitable, and we have more access to the same promotion and distribution channels that the traditional publishers enjoy. Advances in technology and the use of the Internet has provided us with increasingly important and effective opportunities to get out the word about our titles."

The increased acceptance of self-publishing throughout the book industry, the new technologies available that have leveled the playing field, and innovative efforts Dorrance has made at developing more effective book publicity, promotion, and distribution methods have all made an impact on the company's book sales figures. The company expects to see the trend continue as it pursues its goal to increase book sales by at least 7 percent again during 2011.

The PBS media blog MediaShift, in its December 29, 2010 article titled 2010: The Year Self-Publishing Lost Its Stigma, comments that agents and editors now encourage authors to self-publish as a test market. The article reports that independent self-published authors are outselling and out-promoting traditional publishers. And it goes on to build the case that social media has made conversation and recommendation of books easier for authors and self-publishing companies than it had been in the past.

The consensus among those who comment on the publishing industry is that self-publishing will continue to increase as traditional publishing decreases in size and importance, and that quality in content, editing, design, and promotion will remain the critical factors for achieving success.

For more information on Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc. contact: Jessica Cunningham Stillwell, Dorrance Promotion Manager, at 701 Smithfield Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15222, phone: (412) 288-4543, or fax: (412) 434-8430.