With competition at an all-time high in the legal, business, scientific/technical and medical publishing industries worldwide, informed market intelligence on how publishers can capitalize on the most lucrative opportunities and conquer the most formidable challenges is more critical than ever before.

Global Professional Publishing 2009-2010 provides a comprehensive, analytical look at the overall landscape of the $28 billion global markets for legal, business, sci/tech and medical information.

This report helps publishers position themselves for growth by tracking and evaluating key trends, such as:

• Market size by subject: legal, business, STM;
• Market size by medium: books, journals, newsletters, directories, online services/A&I;
• Segment growth drivers;
• Individual publisher strategies for growth online and in foreign markets;
• The effect of the open access movement on the professional publishing industry;
• Key mergers & acquisitions activity;
• Market share growth and business strategies of leading publishers.

The report offers a breakdown of industry revenue by major publishing activities and can be used to evaluate growth potential, understand trends affecting the industry, size the competition, review potential partner or acquisition profiles, examine revenue rankings and three-year forecasts, benchmark performance, and plan short- and long-term growth strategies.

Global Professional Publishing 2009-2010 is an essential tool for publishing executives, M&A advisors, market analysts, and industry consultants who need to understand the business strategies driving the professional publishing industry.

GPP breaks professional publishing down into core publishing activities—Books, Journals, Newsletters and Looseleafs, Databases and Directories, Online Services and Abstracting & Indexing—in the individual segments of Medical, Scientific, Legal and Business. It includes discussion of the leading publishers that compete in these markets. Then it reconstructs the big picture with eye towards key trends and forecasts.

Some of the professional publishing trends outlined in the report:

• Transition from print to electronic publishing has raised customers’ expectations. Professional publishers of all sizes and market specialties are realizing they must add value to content. This has given rise to publishers delving more into software development, search and indexing technology, and providing solutions that integrate content directly into customers’ workflow.

• Impact of open access movement yields measured experimentation with new business models. Open access has not yet been mandated by government funders here or abroad, but some private funding institutes have done so. So, some publishers have already begun to offer author pays models that make the articles available for a fee. Others have taken a wait-and-see approach. Congress is considering making public access to taxpayer funded research mandatory. As more research published in STM journals is linked to funders that require open access, more experimentation with different pay models with follow.

• Professional Publishers search for the right approach to protecting copyright; Publishers want to maintain control they had in a print-only world, but don’t want to take enforcement to the level that colors them in the “bad guy” light that the recording industry is now viewed.

The report includes market sizing, trends, mergers and acquisitions, and revenue forecasts through 2012.

Simba’s professional publishing market figures are now global in scope. It’s a global market. If you’re competing in one or all of these segments, the competition does not conform to lines on a map. This report, and the others in the series, is produced to help executives make decisions in this environment.

Simba has a knowledge base from almost 20 years worth of perspective on these markets. Simba also publishes newsletters which give us some perspective. Simba is covering this market everyday for its Professional Publishing Report newsletter. That daily on the ball coverage is the bedrock for this report.

Additional Information

Stamford, CT - February 3, 2011 - Professional books, still a foundational reference source for most working professionals, grew 1.1% to $13.9 billion in 2010, an initial step toward a full recovery. Media and publishing forecast firm Simba Information's latest report, Global Professional Publishing 2009-2010, details the resilience of professional books through the recession and the explosive adoption of electronic models.

After losing sales in 2009 due to contracted library budgets and decreased exports, professional book publishing, which includes the legal, medical, business, scientific and technical fields, has nearly regained its 2008 position. Although largely due to a recovering economy, new e-book strategies and products from large commercial publishers have helped libraries make the most of their budgets and shelf space.

Historically vilified by the scholarly publishing world, search giants, such as Google and Yahoo!, have proven to be a boon to the industry, as added exposure has increased book sales. The report finds publishers are especially excited about Google Books, which allows users to browse sample pages before purchasing the full text or designated sections.

"The number of publishers distributing through search engines is remarkably increasing, a trend which will continue over the next few years," noted Strempel.

Publishers have embraced a print-on-demand distribution model, which allows buyers to purchase a specific digest and have it shipped within 24 hours of placing the order. According to the report, partnerships with online distributors, such as Amazon, have helped make backlist, out-of-print and large print books readily available.

"In short, as the Internet age continues to evolve and offer new business models and distribution routes, professional publishers must continue to explore the many ways books and book content can be seen, explored and purchased," added Strempel. "The possibilities for reaching the right consumer are now limitless."

Global Professional Publishing 2009-2010 provides a comprehensive, analytical look at the overall landscape of the global market for legal, business, scientific, technical and medical information, breaking down each segment by books, journals, newsletters, directories, online services and abstracting & indexing. Company profiles include key players Reed Elsevier, John Wiley & Sons, Springer Science+Business, Wolters Kluwer and others.