A new "Global Ranking of the Publishing Industry" was presented on Wednesday at the Frankfurt Book Fair. There are hardly any surprises in the ranking though the publishing world is currently facing quite a few new challenges.

Produced by the French magazine Livres Hebdo and researched by the consultant Ruediger Wischenbart, the ranking looks at publishing houses with more than 150 million euros (209 million U.S. dollars) in revenue per year. It' s the fourth time the annual ranking is being presented to the public and followed by a public discussion of major players in the market.

The top six players remained exactly the same as last year, with a very strong focus on Europe and the United States. The Britain-based media group Pearson was able to keep its first ranking with a revenue of more than 5,290 million euros (7,365 million U.S. dollars), followed by the publishing groups Reed Elsevier and Thomson Reuters.

Although the companies in the top ranks are quite diverse, they have one trait in common: They are all regional publishing houses with an international strategy like Penguin (part of Pearson) or Planeta. Asian players from Japan and China are slowly appearing in the top 50 list and are expected to be more important in the near future.

DIGITALIZATION TOWARDS SUCCESS

One aspect that sticks out is: They all believe in digitalization. Catering to the needs of highly specialized communities, they have started to serve on a segment of readers who have the means and are willing to pay for digitally published products.

"In the U.S., the sales of books have dramatically dropped since October 2008, but at the same time the distribution of digital publishing products went significantly up. We have recently experienced an increase of 150 percent in the digital market," said Carolyn Reidy, president and CEO of the U.S. publishing house Simon and Schuster. Still, the market is a "mystery market" . "We don' t know yet, to what extent the digital products are going to replace paper books," said Reidy at the public discussion in Frankfurt. Up to 40 percent of the readers in the U.S. are expected to use both.

Although the European market is still very traditional, the U.S. developments are being closely watched in Europe. Peter Field, CEO of the British publishing house Penguin, expects Britain to follow the U.S. example. But just not yet. "Digital publishing has just started, we expect digital sales to be about one percent in 2010. It will probably pick up at Christmas, when people unwrap their e-readers under the Christmas tree," said Field.

Whereas digital publishing seems to be the way to go for the "big languages" like English and Spanish, Countries like France, Italy or Germany are still quite traditional. In Germany there are currently only about 10,000 titles available. Only the science sector has readily moved into the digital realm in Germany.

GLOBALIZATION: RISK OR CHANCE?

Talking about digital publishing always means to speak about globalization as well. The publishing trade is no longer crafted along language borders, but sees more and more truely international publishing houses -- like the German Bertelsmann Group which integrated Random House more than ten years ago, but also the French Hachette's expansion into the British market. Also China has entered the game, buying translation rights by the fistful.

With one click, digital books can now be bought all over the world, but not everybody does it. While the Americans seem happy to embrace the new market, Teresa Cremisi, CEO of the French publishing house Flammarion, was surprised to realize that "the French-speaking market outside of France is not fully reaching its potential."

One sector that has greatly profited from globalization are the niche sectors like Manga: Once a truely Japanese market, Manga is now immensely popular all over the world. Formerly not even considered as real "books" , they are now a major source of income and indeed a welcome relief on the market otherwise shaken by the financial crisis.

NO PROVEN WAY TO SUCCESS YET

But one aspect remains true as well: Globalization and digital publishing may be the way to go, but are still quite experimental. It means new ways of distribution, adaptation of the product range, getting used to new markets. "We need to see beyond the book and find a way to exploit it as much as possible: As a paper book, audiobook, hardcover and paperbook, " said Peter Field.

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