Bowker (New Providence, NJ), the global leader in bibliographic information, today released statistics on U.S. book publishing for 2009, compiled from its Books In Print database. Based on preliminary figures from U.S. publishers, Bowker is projecting that traditional U.S. title output in 2009 was virtually unchanged. Output of new titles and editions dropped less than half a percent, from 289,729 in 2008 to a projected 288,355 in 2009.
In contrast, there was another extraordinary year of growth in the number of “non-traditional” books in 2009. These books, marketed almost exclusively on the web, are largely on-demand titles produced by reprint houses specializing in public domain works and by presses catering to self-publishers and “micro-niche” publications. Bowker projects that 764,448 titles were produced that fall outside Bowker’s traditional publishing and classification definitions. This number is a 181% increase over 2008 — which doubled 2007’s output – driving total book production over 1,000,000 units for the first time.
Read full article at: http://americanprinter.com/how-to/news/0415-book-production-flat-2009/
