The Portland Independent Research Survey was a collaboration between Berm, Broccoli, Buckman, Lurch, and Provecho, with support from Critical Conversations.

Read the Report

Conducted between October 7, 2024 and December 1, 2024, the survey was distributed by email to known publications, through word of mouth, and via postcards dropped off at book stores and magazine shops in the Portland area.

This report, survey, and the materials generated were organized by Berm editors Michael Kurt and Wesley Mueller. Report and Data Design by Wesley Mueller. Operations and Project support by Michael Kurt.

Report Summary

The 2024 Portland Independent Publisher Survey was funded by a grant from Critical Conversations. This grant went towards paying a roundtable of Portland-based publishers for their time to generate thoughts and questions around the Portland publishing landscape. Survey questions were polled among participants and selected as the most interesting to gather information from the larger community of publishers about. Some open-ended questions were summarized into common bullet points.

As this is the first year of the survey, some questions did not fit neatly into easy, digestible metrics. In future surveys we will create two pathways for response: one for book publishers and one for magazine publishers. This will help to create a cleaner basis for questions about things like budgets and advertising.

The following report is meant to capture a point-in-time reference for how independent publishers conduct business, budget for their productions, and what kinds of systems they rely on to work.

Who benefits from this report?

This report benefits anyone working, or wanting to work, in independent publishing, printing, distribution, or sales. As this report covers both book and magazine publishers, there should be some expectations set that some answers about budget, print size, and advertising will not always apply to every situation. But we hope that this will encourage new and existing publishers to better understand the local market and opportunities for publishers in the Portland area.

Will the report continue next year?

We hope so! This report will be most beneficial if it continues to track these topics across multiple years.