More Specialists Handle Custom Pubs, Big Companies Pay More

Custom publications are being increasingly produced by specialty editors and designers (73%) rather than by those in communications roles, according to a study conducted by the Custom Publishing Council (CPC) in cooperation with Publications Management, writes MarketingCharts.

The survey, “Staffing and Compensation: How Corporate America Staffs its Custom Publishing Endeavor,” also finds that custom publishing is on the increase and large companies pay their custom-publishing staffs more, but that the pay gap between profit and non-profit organizations is shrinking.

Key findings:

• Large companies compensate custom publishing staff at a rate of 29% more than small companies. The largest gap in compensation is for individuals holding communications titles, with a differential of 58.3%.
• While for-profit businesses tend to pay staff at a higher rate than non-profit organizations, the pay gap narrowed by 9.2% in the past year.
• Although companies have devoted nearly the same number of staff to custom publishing initiatives in the past three years, the trend is up 51% since 2000.
• Combining wages and time expended, companies increased the amount of money they invested in staffing custom publishing projects in the last year.
• Communication and editorial titles had compensation increases of 3.4% and 15.2%, respectively, while design titles dropped 3.7%. There was an overall increase of 7.7% over last year.

“Custom media has become so sophisticated and spectacular, it is no surprise that the majority of companies are relegating their resources to specialists who are expert in producing top-notch content,” said Lori Rosen, executive cirector, CPC. “Companies also outsource to custom publishers who bring 360-degree integrated packages to the custom mix.”