Bibliographic information provider Bowker, US, a business unit of ProQuest, has released statistics on US book publishing for 2009, compiled from its Books In Print database. Based on preliminary figures from publishers in the nation, Bowker is projecting that traditional US 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 an estimated 288,355 in 2009.
In contrast, 2009 was another significant year of growth in terms of the number of ‘non-traditional’ books. These books, marketed almost exclusively on the web, are largely on-demand titles produced by reprint houses specialising 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 its traditional publishing and classification definitions. This number is a 181 percent increase over 2008 - which doubled 2007’s output – driving total book production over 1,000,000 units for the first time.
Changes in major publishing categories indicate that publishers expected the sluggish economy to continue its impact on consumer spending. Categories that grew tended to be in areas that could contribute to workplace knowledge and budgeting.
In 2008, the production of print-on-demand books surpassed traditional book publishing for the first time and since then its growth has been substantial, according to Bowker. With an output twice more than that of traditional titles, the print-on-demand market is currently dominated by a handful of publishers. In fact, the top 10 publishers overall accounted for a 74 percent of total titles produced in 2009.
Numbers are gathered as a result of Bowker’s maintenance of the industry’s bibliographic database, Books In Print, and reported through PubTrack Production Trends Analysis. Books In Print is claimed to be the only bibliographic database with more than 9 million US book, audiobook and video titles. Audiobooks and E-books are excluded. If changes in industry estimates occur, they will be reflected in a later published report.
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