| In 2006, approximately 934 new titles were launched to bookstores per month or 11,201 titles yearly. It is believed that Thai people read only 2 books for pleasure per year and spend about 260 baht (6.84 USD at the ROE of 38 baht) buying books in a year. This figure has shown that Thailand is still far behind the so-called developed countries regarding new titles launched and the reading habit as shown by number of books read and amount of money spent on book expense.
However, Thailand still has opportunities for the expansion of the publishing market and it is estimated that in the year 2007, the market value will reach 19 billion baht or around 500 million USD. The possible hindrances in 2007, though, might be risen from political instabilities and some important national and world issues e.g. turmoil in some parts of the country, oil prices, etc.
Some interesting figures regarding the publishing business
| Table 1 Numbers of publishers and bookstores in Thailand |
| Category |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
| Publishers* |
374 |
433 |
475 |
492 |
| Bookstores** |
678 |
759 |
848 |
1,309 |
Note:
* registered members of the PUBAT
** From Se-ed Bookstore’s annual report 2006 |
These figures have shown the obvious increase of both number of publishers and bookstores in Thailand. Within 4 years, the number of publishers jumped from 374 up to 492 in 2006 or with the increase of 37.4%. The number of bookstores also increased from 678 in 2003 to 1,309 in 2006 or 93% expanded within 4 year periods. Particularly in 2006, the “Book Smile”, 7-11’s bookstore chain multiplied numbers of small bookstores throughout the country.
| Table 2 Trend of numbers of publishers categorized by size (revenue) |
| Category |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
| Large Publishing House* |
20 |
25 |
30 |
35 |
| Medium Publishing House** |
44 |
54 |
65 |
75 |
| Small Publishing House*** |
310 |
433 |
475 |
492 |
Note:
* Revenue=more than 100 million baht
** Revenue=more than 30 million baht
***Revenue=less than 30 million baht |
| Table 3 Number of new titles launched from 2003 to 2006 |
| Category |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
| New titles/year |
10,108 |
11,103 |
11,651 |
11,201 |
| New titles/day |
27.7 |
30.4 |
31.9 |
30.7 |
| Table 4 Number of titles launched per publishers from 2003 to 2006 |
| Category |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
| No. of Publishers |
374 |
11,103 |
11,651 |
11,201 |
| New titles/year |
10,108 |
30.4 |
31.9 |
30.7 |
| New titles/publisher/year* |
27.02 |
25.64 |
24.53 |
22.27 |
| Note: *It is shown from these figures that publishers have tendencies to publish fewer titles probably because many small publishing houses have irregularly launched new titles. While large publishing houses are more selective and careful to publish only titles that they are quite certain to make a hit in the market. |
| Table 5 Number of Bookstores from 2003 to 2006 |
| Category |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
| Bookstores in BKK & vicinity |
379 |
386 |
447 |
791 |
| Other areas |
299 |
373 |
401 |
518 |
| Total |
678 |
759 |
848 |
1,309 |
| Table 6 Chain Bookstores VS Stand alone bookstores |
| Category |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
| Chain bookstores |
328 |
336 |
441 |
763 |
| Stand alone bookstore |
350 |
423 |
407 |
546 |
| Total |
678 |
759 |
848 |
1,309 |
The chain bookstores have shared the overall book market of more than 50%. Publishers will have to depend more to chain bookstores than the conservative stand alone bookstores. However, the chain bookstores have introduced better system into the book market in terms of distributing, displaying, marketing, and financing aspects.
| Table 7 Book Revenue VS GDP (in baht) |
| Category |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
| Book Revenue/yea |
10,500 |
13,100 |
16,200 |
17,000 |
| GDP |
5,928,975 |
6,503,488 |
7,102,962 |
7,716,225 |
| Book revenue VS GDP |
0.17 |
0.20 |
0.21 |
0.21 |
According to these figures, in comparison with the GDP, book business in Thailand is trivial and insignificant. Therefore, the ups and downs of the economic situations do not have much impact on book business. Book in particular, is not considered a luxurious item. The most important factors influencing book business in Thailand seem to be the government’s educational policy, human development policy together with the publishers’ own creative abilities, the efficiency of their book management and strength of book business networking.
|
