About the industry
Publishing is a very broad industry. It covers books, journals, directories and databases, magazines, newspapers and news agencies in both print and electronic media.
Books range across fiction, poetry, non-fiction, children's books, educational, scholarly and reference books - over 125,000 books are published in the UK every year. Journals cover a wide range of specialist, scholarly and professional subjects.
There are over 1,000 UK-published directories and databases, providing reference resources for specialists, business and the general public. Magazines include over 2,000 consumer, business and professional titles.
Newspapers include both the national papers and over 1,000 local and regional ones.
UK publishing generates more than £18.5bn in sales annually, making it the second largest publishing industry in Europe. Publishers have been leaders in seizing the opportunities offered by new technologies; they are leading long-term investors in digital content and online services. Publishing employs some 200,000 people in over 8,000 companies and generates a significant trade surplus from some £2bn in export revenues.
For more in-depth information about these industries please visit the Research resources in publishing.
