Case Study: Demand Forecasting in the Publishing Industry

With thousands of new book launches per year, forecasting demand in the book publishing industry is challenging. Finding the balance between meeting market demand and avoiding the costs of unsold inventory requires a robust planning process that incorporates industry knowledge, cross-functional involvement, and advanced forecast modeling. In this article, I reveal the approach used by a global publishing giant behind some of the world’s most popular books. I detail how publishers are responding to new market dynamics like spikes in demand caused by TikTok influencers, and how we are building new models that combine internal and external comparable sales data, POS data, lead times, and publicity-driven ...