The publishing industry provided almost 714,000 wage and salary jobs in 2002. In addition, there were 39,000 self-employed workers. The industry does not include independent (or “freelance”) writers, artists, journalists, or photographers, whose jobs are included in the arts, entertainment, and recreation industry, but whose contributions of content material to this industry are significant.
Newspaper publishing companies employ the largest number of people in this industry, because they write much of their own material and typically print, and sometimes distribute, their newspapers. While newspaper publishing is done throughout the country, magazine and book publishers are based mostly in large cities. The largest concentration of publishers is in New York City. Although most establishments in this industry are small, most workers work at the largest ones.