ANNUAL BOOK PUBLISHING INDUSTRY SURVEY 2013 · 2015. 7. 7. · BOOK PUBLISHING ANNUAL EMPLOYMENT AND EQUITY REPORT 2013 3 1 Executive Summary Based on the information provided by

ANNUAL BOOK PUBLISHING

INDUSTRY SURVEY

2013

EMPLOYMENT AND EQUITY REPORT

JANUARY 2015

SCHOOL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION SCIENCE

PUBLISHING STUDIES

Liam Borgstrom

Willem Struik

© Publishers’ Association of South Africa

BOOK PUBLISHING ANNUAL EMPLOYMENT AND EQUITY REPORT 2013 1

Foreword This report represents the Employment and Equity Profile of South African

publishing as of the 2013 financial year end (or as close to it as possible).

This survey was conducted simultaneously with the BEP survey (Business

Economic Profile) to assess the change in business ownership as well as

employment equity. The survey was delayed by numerous issues and

resulted in a limited response which prevents a total representative

industry profile. As a result, this report updates the 2012 report with the

data provided and provides comparative data where relevant.

The team would like to thank those publishers who did participate and

would like to encourage other publishers to contribute to future surveys in

order to create a more representative profile of the industry.

Liam Borgstrom

Willem Struik



Contents 1 Executive Summary...................................................................................................................................................................... 3

2 Methodology ................................................................................................................................................................................ 4

2.1 Core list of book suppliers invited to participate .................................................................................................. 4

2.2 Participant profile .............................................................................................................................................................. 5

2.3 Sample Pool ........................................................................................................................................................................ 6

3 Equity Profile .................................................................................................................................................................................. 6

3.1 Ownership structure ......................................................................................................................................................... 6

3.2 Local vs foreign interest .................................................................................................................................................. 6

Fig. 3.3 BBBEE Rankings by score ................................................................................................................................................ 7

4 Author Demographics ................................................................................................................................................................ 7

Fig. 3.1 Author profile ...................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Fig. 3.2 Author numbers per population group ..................................................................................................................... 7

5 Company Demographics ........................................................................................................................................................... 9

Fig. 5.1 Employment numbers per turnover category .......................................................................................................... 9

Fig. 5.2 Employment numbers per population group.......................................................................................................... 9

Fig. 5.3 Total employment numbers per industry sub-sector ..........................................................................................11



1 Executive Summary Based on the information provided by the 2013 survey respondents it was

possible to create an updated profile based on the results of the 2012

survey.

The results show little change in business activities as regards turnover

and size. All companies remained in their respective categories from the

previous year.

BBBEE ratings have been only slightly affected, primarily by the

influence of two companies whose ownership structure has changed their

previous ratings.

One of the most significant points in this survey is the drop in author

numbers, specifically in the education subsector. This data is captured

differently by publishers and may be influenced by the state of the

publisher’s lists and by royalty payments. This is most likely indicative of the

implementation of the CAPS curriculum which will have led to the removal

of older titles and royalty payments from the publishers’ systems. Other

sub-sectors show a rise in author numbers.

Company demographics have been affected somewhat, with the senior

managerial, support staff, and marketing and sales categories showing the

greatest change in most companies. This change was reflected across all

industry sub-sectors. Smaller companies showed no change in their

employment numbers, and this complemented with the reduction of

larger companies is likely representative of the situation facing most

companies in the industry.

Overall the results of this survey cannot be considered wholly

conclusive without the input of the greater body of practising publishers,

however they do indicate some of the underlying changes that may be

affecting the industry as a whole.

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

Author demographics

2012 2013

2012 2013

Black Male 283 284

Black Female 602 577

White Male 157 151

White Female 504 482

Total Employees 1546 1495

283 284

602 577

157 151

504 482

1546 1495

Employment numbers

Black Male Black Female White Male White Female Total Employees



2 Methodology The survey questionnaires were distributed in April 2014 with the final

results survey submitted in October 2014. This yielded 22 updated

employment and author records with which to update the previous year’s

pool to 46 (previously 45). The raw data was checked for internal

consistency and placed within the primary data set where the values were

compiled and compared to those of the previous survey.

The questionnaires request data on the company make up as regards

ownership, supported authors, and employment numbers.

2.1 Core list of book suppliers invited to participate The PASA office supplied the researchers with its current list of members.

Based on this information a broad survey address list of 141 entities was

compiled. This broad list included associate members, entities that are

divisions/imprints of holding companies and entities whose core business

is the rendering of services such as copy-editing. Based on information

about the business activities of members gleaned from The Guide to Publishing in South Africa the broad PASA list was trimmed to 112 in order

to target the primary business units (as opposed to holding companies or

imprints) engaged in local book publishing and book distribution.

The survey questionnaire was distributed to the full suppliers list

consisting of both PASA and non-PASA members, publishers and

distributors making up a total list of 183.

Invitations to participate were sent out on several occasions with only

25 indicating a willingness to participate in the survey, and only 22

responding with the questionnaires in the end.

Local publishers specialising in religious trade books have participated

in the survey for a number of years recording their data as a separate

industry sub-sector. None of these are members of PASA and all publish

religious books exclusively with no cross-over activity in any other industry

sub-sector. This sub-sector is characterised by increasing consolidation

through acquisitions and mergers. The dominant publishers in this sub-

sector have declined to participate in the 2013 survey, and no such data is

included.

Unlike the BEP, market share is not an influencing factor in the

identification of key participants, as this survey addresses the straight

numbers of employees and author. The size of the company is useful only

in highlighting changes in the profile of the differently sized businesses and

creating the totals, and the company make-up cannot be extrapolated to

create industry averages. Therefore this survey is dependent on the

number of participants and cannot rely on a core group for industry

representation. This could arguably be applied to author statistics, however

total industry equity relies on the largest possible sample group.



2.2 Participant profile The following figures detail the participant profile for the 2013 survey. Due

to the lack of participation, the 2012 survey data has been submitted with

the influence of the 22 updated profiles.

Company profile 2013 2012

Book supplier category 46 44

Local publisher only 23 23

Local publisher and distributor 17 16

Local distributor only 6 6

Primary publishing sub-sector 46 44

General Trade 18 18

Education 21 19

Academic 7 7

Annual turnover category 46 45

Large: Turnover exceeds R 50 m 17 16

Medium: Turnover between R5 m and R50 m 15 14

Small: Turnover less than R 5 m 14 14

Total number of permanent employees 46 45

Small: Less than 10 employees 22 21

Medium: Between 10 and 50 employees 12 11

Large: More than 50 employees 12 12

Company legal status 46 45

Sole proprietor 3 3

Closed corporation 11 11

Partnership 1 1

Private company 22 21

Public company 6 5

Public Benefit Organisation 3 3



2.3 Sample Pool

Macrat Publishing Cambridge University Press SA Naledi Books

NB Publishers Random House Struik (Pty) Ltd Real Books

Via Afrika Publishers Penguin Books (SA) (Pty) Ltd Best Books

Marumo Publishing Study Opportunities Marumo Publishing

Oxford University Press SA Lapa Uitgewers Edms Bpk Stimela Publishers

New Readers Naledi Everybody’s Books

Future Managers (Pty) Ltd Jacana Troupant

Van Schaik Publishers Maskew Miller Longman HSRC

Macmillan South Africa Heinemann PESA

Metz Press Pearson Holdings African Moon

RNA Distribution Briza Publications Juta

Lannice Snyman Phambili Wits Univ Press

Faradawn Awareness Trumpeter

Metz Press Shuter & Shooter Vivlia Publishers

NB Uitgewers Via Afrika

Jonathan Ball Publishers Fantasi

3 Equity Profile Between the two surveys there has no significant change, BBBEE ratings

have remained stable affected only slightly by changing company

structures.

3.1 Ownership structure The ownership structures of companies are difficult to determine as not all

companies are able to provide an accurate division of ownership based on

the grounds of ethnicity. This is can also be complicated by the ownership

structure of the parent company. The majority of publishers maintain a

small degree of variation often being wholly owned by one group or in a

50:50 division. As all companies reported on this differently it is impossible,

to provide an accurate industry average on this front.

3.2 Local vs foreign interest In terms of the involvement of foreign ownership, in many cases the

companies were able to report on the ownership structure in terms of local

and foreign infrastructure. In most cases this reflected a 25:75 relationship

favouring either scenario, however the majority of the companies were

locally owned. Out of the sample group 93.8% were locally owned

business.

93.8

6.2

Company Ownership

Local Foreign



Fig. 3.3 BBBEE Rankings by score

BBBEE Scores 2013 2012

BBBEE rated 47 45

Yes 30 29

No 10 10

Exempted 7 6

BBBEE Rating Tally

1 AAA 1 2

2 AA 3 3

3 A 6 6

4 BBB 12 12

5 BB 1 1

6 B 2 1

7 C 0 0

8 D 5 4

Not compliant 0 0

4 Author Demographics The number of authors has drastically decreased, particularly in education.

These statistics are difficult to collect as the different companies use varying

means to keep track of their author pool. These drops may indicate a

reduction in the total publishing list, or be influenced by business factors

such as mergers. These stats are often pulled from payroll data, and may

also be affected by sales. For specific royalty payments please see the BEP

report.

Fig. 3.1 Author profile

Number of unique authors 2013 2012 Difference

Participating publishers 36 35 1

Individual authors 16 924 19 248 -2324

Estates, etc 1 743 1 354 389

Fig. 3.2 Author numbers per population group

Author profile General trade

2013 2012 Difference

Black male 269 249 20

Black female 364 286 78

White male 1 605 1 646 -41

White female 2 333 2 000 333

All authors 4 571 4 181 390

1. The increase in authors is reflected in the output of the trade

publishers adding 1,481 new (and revised) titles to the

market.

1. The main influencing factors

came from changes in ownership

in a small number of participants.



Author profile

Education 2013 2012 Difference

Black male 2 064 2 112 -48

Black female 1 954 2 035 -81

White male 1 860 3 222 -1362

White female 2 622 3 858 -1236

All authors 8 500 11 227 -2727

1. Despite the drop in authors, the educational sub-sector

produced 5,003 new (and revised) editions in 2013.

Author profile Academic


Black male 396 386 10

Black female 491 449 42

White male 1 571 1 555 16

White female 1 359 1 270 89

All authors 3 817 3 660 157

1. The academic sub-sector produced 944 new (and revised)

titles in 2013, the 72% of which being professional books.

Author profile All sub-sectors


Black male 2 728 2 760 -32

Black female 2 803 2 772 31

White male 5 141 6 577 -1436

White female 6 253 7 236 -983

All authors 17 644 19 345 -1701



5 Company Demographics The demographics for companies show a change in structure, particularly

in the larger companies and in senior management and support staff. This

was reflected in support staff of medium enterprises as well. In smaller

companies, no significant change is noted.

Fig. 5.1 Employment numbers per turnover category

Employment numbers per company category


Large companies 1 087 1 154 -67

Medium companies 291 278 13

Small companies 117 114 3

All employees 1 495 1 546 -51

Fig. 5.2 Employment numbers per population group

Employment profile Black male


Chief executive officers 8 10 -2

Functional heads of department 11 13 -2

Editiorial staff 12 12 0

Design and production staff 32 31 1

Marketing and sales staff 108 116 -8

Finance staff 3 4 -1

Human resources staff 6 1 5

Office administration staff 13 8 5

Information technology staff 10 7 3

Warehousing and distribution staff 46 43 3

Other support staff 37 38 -1

All employees 284 283 1

Employment profile Black female







Finance staff 64 56 8


Office administration staff 78 94 -16


Warehousing and distribution staff 38 44 -6


All employees 577 602 -25



Employment profile White male



Functional heads of department 24 24 0








Warehousing and distribution staff 2 2 0

Other support staff 1 1 0


Employment profile White female



Functional heads of department 62 60 2











Employment profile All employees





Design and production staff 187 188 -1


Finance staff 94 91 3






All employees 1 495 1 546 -51



Fig. 5.3 Total employment numbers per industry sub-sector

Employees by

population

group

2013

General trade Education Academic All employees

2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012

Black male 53 46 163 170 68 67 284 283

Black female 124 122 323 352 130 128 577 602

White male 59 56 51 60 41 41 151 157

White female 213 221 186 199 80 81 482 501

Total 449 445 723 781 319 317 1494 1 546

Documents

ANNUAL BOOK PUBLISHING INDUSTRY SURVEY 2013 · 2015. 7. 7. · BOOK PUBLISHING ANNUAL EMPLOYMENT AND EQUITY REPORT 2013 3 1 Executive Summary Based on the information provided by