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Editors at university presses reported that the average total sales for an art history-related title over the past three years were just over 1,100 copies. Maximum sales ranged from 1,200 at the low end to 15,000 at the high end. Minimum sales ranged from 350 to 900.
Ten years ago, typical sales were estimated at just over 1,800 copies per title. This means that the sales of art history-related titles published by academic presses have declined, on average, by about 38% since the mid-1990s. Likewise, the average print run for an art history-related title in 2005 was about 33% lower than it was in 1995. For at least one university press, the 2005 print run was higher than it might have been otherwise because "some printers do not print fewer than 1000 [copies], and given the high costs of reprinting, we print more than we think can sell, but price to break-even at 500 or 600 for most books."
One of the primary sources of declining sales, according to conversations held with art history editors, is the fact that university libraries are purchasing far fewer copies of art history books than they used to. Although the survey data are somewhat sketchy, it appears that sales to libraries (which, in 2005, accounted for about a quarter of the sales of art history titles published by university presses), have declined by about 40 to 45 percent since the mid-1990s.
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This work is licensed by Lawrence McGill under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 2.0), and is an Open Educational Resource.
Last edited by Chuck Bearden on Sep 21, 2006 3:18 pm -0500.
