"It's called Music City USA, but Publishing City USA might be
just as apt a nickname for Nashville, home to a community of
high-powered publishers and other book-related companies whose
increasing influence is being felt throughout the country." ~ Edward
Nawoka
Tennessee has several advantages. The central location, nearly 76 percent of the U.S. population lives within 500 miles of the state, reduces distribution costs. In Tennessee, book inventory held in a warehouse is exempt from property tax. There is no state income tax on earned income. Tennessee is a "right to work" state which reduces union activity and lowers wages. Salaries and wages are lower than those paid in many mid-western and eastern states.
Nashville has a strong history of successful religious publishing and is located in a state with a strong "values" orientation committed to inspirational content.
Book publishing is the sixth largest manufacturing industry in Tennessee. The state is one of the top ten book publishing states in the U.S. and is the largest in the Southern region. There is special strength in religious publishing centered in Nashville. Thomas Nelson is the best known trade publisher and Warner Faith has also been quite successful. The Ingram Book Group is the nation's largest book wholesaler. Ingram's Lightning Source division has been a leader in publication on demand.
There are about 3,000 publishers in Tennessee, but this includes some who are inactive and does not include others who are small and relatively invisible. Not all of these are traditional or conventional book publishers. For example, Tel-a-train produces workplace training materials. Anesthesia Press was in the Vanderbilt Medical Center. BIP classifies firms by size. A few years ago, Chattanooga had two large publishers, seven medium sized ones, and 43 small ones. Knoxville had only one active large publisher, UT Press. There were also 20 medium sized publishers and 95 small ones. Nashville had 28 large publishers, 47 medium ones, and 319 small publishers. Memphis had no large publisher, but there were twenty-seven medium sized ones, and 168 small ones. Clearly, Nashville is the dominant publishing site in Tennessee, but there are many small publishers located in places large and small. A few examples may illustrate the range of publishers located in our state.
The University of Tennessee Press is located in Knoxville. This scholarly publisher has been active since 1940 and has an editorial board of UT Faculty.
AMG Publishers is a religious publisher located in Chattanooga. The list emphasizes the Bible and Bible study as well as some home schooling works.
Abingdon Press is located in Nashville and was established in 1789. It is primarily a religious publisher and is a division of the United Methodist Church. The press has about 250 titles in print. Imprints include: Chalice Press, Cokesbury, Dimensions for Living, Kingswood Books, and the United Methodist Publishing House. This is a BIP large publishing house.
Broadman and Holman Publishers [now B & H publishing] is located in Nashville and were established in 1934. They have over 500 titles in print as well as 25 audio titles. Broadman and Holman are a division of the Southern Baptist Convention's Lifeway Christian Resource. They publish Bibles and Biblical reference works, religious and religious trade books.
Christian Lifeway Resources is the primary publishing unit of the Southern Baptist Convention. Their Sunday School Publishing Board is also a noted publisher.
Country Music Foundation Press, in Nashville, was founded in 1972. Books, calendars and a journal are published with an emphasis on regional Americana, biography, and music.
Cumberland House was begun by one of the former Rutledge Hill publishers in Nashville and issues about 65 titles per year. Cook books, sports books, and some regional books are popular. This is a BIP large publishing house.
Dowling Press is a one person publishing house in Nashville. The first book published was The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex. This title was later reprinted in hard cover by a subsidiary of Random House. The house specializes in off-beat entertainment books, but also publishes mysteries written by Vanderbilt's Cecilia Tichi. It took Maryglenn McCombs, the owner about five months to do her first book.
Genealogical Sources Unlimited was located in Knoxville. It was founded in 1978 and had 20 titles in print. The publisher, George Schweitzer, was a chemistry professor at UTK with a strong background in genealogical research. It is now part of the Interlink Bookshop.
Grandmother Earth is located in Memphis. It provides writing contests, books of regional, interest including poetry.
Ideals publications is best known for its magazine, but also issues gift books and cookbooks. They began publishing in Nashville in 1944 and have 107 titles in print. Focus is on inspiration, regional Americana, cookery, crafts and hobbies, house and home, and photography.
Integrity Publishers is the book subsidiary of Integrity Media, a Christian music firm.
Mustang Publishing is located in Memphis and has quite a varied list including art, travel and the Complete Book of Beer Drinking Games.
Thomas Nelson is in Nashville and was established in 1961. It is the largest and probably the best known of all the Tennessee book publishers not affiliated with a church. Nelson has a large number of titles in print as well as audio titles and digital too. Nelson publishes Bibles, Christian and inspirational works, trade books, and stationary. Subsidiaries include C. R. Gibson, Editorial Caribe, and Word Inc. Imprints include the Catholic Bible Press, Markings, and Regency. Nelson also offers "Spiritual Spa" inspirational retreats. This is a BIP large publishing house with 2005 sales of $253 million and eight books on the NYT bestseller list.
The Overmountain Press is in Johnson City and began in 1970. They have several titles in print and issue about 25 books per year. Their books cover a wide variety of subjects with some focus on regional Americana. They are a division of Sabre Industries. Silver Dagger Mysteries is an additional imprint.
Rutledge Hill Press had been independent, and was purchased by Nelson. It is best known for publishing H.Jackson Brown's Life's Little Instruction Book. But Rutledge has specialized in regional books. Today, it is part of Nelson.
M. Lee Smith Publishers are located near Nashville and were founded in 1975. They issue legal reference books and periodicals.
The Southwestern/Great American Company is involved in a variety of business initiatives. It began in 1855 and employs about 3000 independent college student dealers to sell family oriented reference books door to door. The FRP unit publishes cookbooks for nonprofit organizations, companies, and individuals. The parent company focuses on fund-raising initiatives and is Nashville's 14th largest employer.
The United Methodist Publishing House was established in 1854 in Nashville. It issues books, videos, church supplies, music, software, and also has a book selling unit. Imprints include: Abingdon Press, Chalice Press, Cokesbury, Dimensions for Living, and Kingswood Books. The Cokesbury bookstore chain is also part of UMPH.
Vanderbilt University Press, in Nashville, was also founded in 1940 and has 130 titles in print. It issues about 15 titles in an typical year as well as an occasional CDRom title. One title is available via the Internet. It publishes on a limited variety of academic topics including regional Americana, art, history, literature, mathematics, philosophy and the social sciences. VUP is one of the smaller university presses with a staff of four. It is curious that this is a BIP large publishing house with a relatively small output.
Warner Faith, as with the other Times Warner titles, are now part of the Hachette Book Group.
Most Tennessee book publishers are relatively small, with the median publisher having about five titles in print. Few Tennessee publishers have substantial library or trade sales. The advent of the Internet and web site visibility and sales as well as the ease of desktop publishing have increased the number of small publishers.
Tennessee leads the U.S. in the value of religious books shipped. New York is second, but its value is about half of Tennessee's.
Since the Christian bookstore market is shrinking, religious publishers are devoting more attention to the book trade and have expanded their vision of the market for religious and inspirational content.
If you were to open a publishing house, would Tennessee be a good place? Why? Does the state itself or its region suggest that some subjects might be more successful than others? Does it really matter which city you live in?
If you decided to locate your publishing house in Tennessee, would a particular city be better than another? For example, would it best to locate in Nashville where there is so much publishing activity?
Last major revision: July 2007.
