ABOUT SINGAPORE BOOK PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Established in 1968, the Singapore Book Publishers Association represents the interests of Singapore publishers engaged in a wide range of publishing, marketing, and distribution activities in both print and digital formats. It focuses on developing and strengthening the book ecosystem in Singapore. SBPA member companies contribute some S$1.7 billion each year to the Singapore economy.
There are 67 full members and eight associates. Full membership is based on several criteria, the main one being that the company activity must be at least 51% on publishing. Associate members are companies whose business supports or is related to the book publishing industry.
The book publishing industry in Singapore can be divided into three main categories: General or Trade (books on sale in bookshops), Educational (books sold to schools and parents), and Professional/STM and Scholarly (must-have information for professionals and researchers, sold mostly to institutions).
All three categories are well-represented in Singapore. Companies in Singapore include large foreign multinationals with Asia HQ functions in Singapore (Pearson-Penguin, John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier, etc.) as well as three home-grown multinationals (Times Publishing Group; World Scientific; Popular Holdings), and numerous small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including some with a very strong recent growth trajectory. The SBPA currently has 75 members, including multinational corporations (MNCs) and SMEs.