- Number of suppliers that Baker & Taylor handles: 25,000
- Number of Baker & Taylor customers: 20,000
- Number of countries that Baker & Taylor operates in: 120
- Percentage of US students that Follett serves: 50
- Number of US schools that Follett serves: 70,000
- Number of campus stores that Follett operates: 1,250
- Percentage of US adults in 2011 who felt that certain books should be banned: 18
- In 2015: 28
- Number-one most challenged book of 2015: Looking for Alaska by John Green
- Global publishing industry revenue in 2011: $165 billion
- Global publishing industry revenue in 2014: $145 billion
- Percentage decline of ebook sales between January and November 2015, compared to the year before: 12.7
- Percentage increase in audiobook sales in 2015: 40.3
- Current membership growth at Audible, year on year: 40%
Sources: Follett Acquires Baker & Taylor (press release); The State of America’s Libraries 2016; Book Publishing Is a Resilient Business: Kobo CEO
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
