Seventy-eight active independent publishers in Ontario were collectively responsible for injecting $145 million into the province’s gross domestic product in 2023 according to a new study commissioned by the Ontario Book Publishers Organization.
The report, which seeks to quantify the economic impact from independent book publishing in the province, also found that the sector’s earned revenue for 2023 was $139 million, with 62% of that arising from book sales. That compares with 31% from grants and provincial tax credits, which should not suggest that grants and provincial funding do not play a significant role in the sector’s health.
“The grants support those numbers,” says Holly Kent, executive director of the OBPO. “Without the initial operating and project grants, those numbers wouldn’t get there. We need that funding to do the work we do and make those sales numbers.”
The study was conducted by economic analysis firm Nordicity, with the participation of Ontario Creates. It involved the creation of a database of active publishers in the province, an online survey, and analysis of publicly available data. The online survey, administered by the OBPO from April to June 2024, received a total of thirty-six valid responses, or 46% of the seventy-eight total publishers in the province. The OBPO had hoped for a response rate of 80% and attributed the lower number to “other regular reporting and the demands of the busy spring publishing season.” Nordicity contacted some publishers directly “to fill key data gaps.”
Kent says that while the survey respondents were anonymized, Nordicity did indicate that most OBPO members answered the survey and, while the numbers were lower than hoped, the final results offer an accurate overall picture of the sector. “We do think that the response gives us enough insight into the industry,” Kent says.
Nordicity estimates that Ontario’s independent publishers were responsible for producing approximately 1,678 new titles and editions in 2023, of which 87% were by Canadian authors. Of the revenue generated by book sales for these companies, 39% came from domestic sales, with 23% from export sales. The average profit margin for Ontario independent publishers remains slim at 5%.
On the cost side, the largest expense for publishers was staff wages, salaries, and benefits, which accounted for 35% of spending. The next highest expense by far was rent, at 29%.
The study also found that the independent publishing sector was a significant driver of employment growth in the province, with one full-time equivalent job created for every 1.2 titles published. The average full-time employee’s salary was $58,000.
Independent publishers are also invested in equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives, with 81% having editorial policies in place and 65% maintaining hiring guidelines. Close to half the participating firms (47%) have engaged in internal diversity surveys.
In purely economic terms, the Nordicity study provides concrete evidence of the positive impact the independent publishing sector provides for the province as a whole, and it tends to indicate a sector that is making significant contributions to employment and the promotion of Canadian writing in Ontario. The extraordinary percentage of books by Canadian authors coming out of the sector is indicative of its foundational role in keeping Canadian literature alive.
Kent says that the OBPO was pleasantly surprised by the results of the survey. “We had generated our own numbers by surveying our members and had presented them in various settings as examples of the incredible impact that Ontario publishers have on the GDP,” she says. “We were met with people pointing out that without it being verified by a statistician, we couldn’t really rely on those numbers. So we went into this knowing that we might not be happy with the numbers, that they might not be similar to what we’d determined. They were actually stronger.”