For first time ever, more POD than conventional titles published in 2008

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Pat~

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This partial quote from the Southern Review (first article, scroll down):

Bibliographic data provider Bowker's preliminary data for books published in the U.S. in 2008 shows that output from traditional publishers declined by about three percent, and that the number of "on demand" books grew 132 percent to exceed for the first time ever the number of traditional titles published during the year.

The significance: More people are likely now publishing books than there are people who want to read them.
Bowker released the statistics, compiled from its Books In Print® database, on May 19. Based on preliminary figures from U.S. publishers, Bowker is projecting that U.S. title output in 2008 decreased to 275,232 new titles and editions, down from the 284,370 that were published in 2007.

Despite this decline in traditional book publishing, there was another extraordinary year of growth in the reported number of "on demand" and short-run books produced in 2008. Bowker projects that 285,394 on demand books were produced last year, a 132 percent increase over the 2007 final total of 123,276 titles.

This is the second consecutive year of triple-digit growth in the on demand segment, which in 2008 was 462 percent above levels seen as recently as 2006.

The biggest declines for traditional publishers came in travel (down by 15 percent, with 4,817 new titles), fiction (down 11 percent, with 47,541 new titles) and religion (down 14 percent, at 16,847 titles).

"Our statistics for 2008 benchmark a historic development in the U.S. book publishing industry as we crossed a point last year in which on demand and short-run books exceeded the number of traditional books entering the marketplace," said Kelly Gallagher, vice president of publisher services for Bowker. "It remains to be seen how this trend will unfold in the coming years before we know if we just experienced a watershed year in the book publishing industry, fueled by the changing dynamics of the marketplace and the proliferation of sophisticated publishing technologies, or an anomaly that caused the major industry trade publishers to retrench."

(And forgive me if this isn't new news; couldn't find it elsewhere in the forums...)
 

Salis

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Yeah, "publishing" a title is really not that interesting if they do nothing with that title.

I mean, I could write 100,000 open source games that consist of a little stick figure running around your screen when you press the arrow keys, but that doesn't say anything about open source games doing anything commercially.
 

KTC

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This is a flimsy thing. I'd like to see sales statistics too. Of course this is going to be grossly skewed. My dog is even publishing these days.
 

Pat~

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More books may have been produced, but I want to see sales numbers on all of these titles.

Well, sadly, that's exactly the point. The stats only mean that more people than ever are publishing at the same time that fewer people than ever are buying (based on trad'l publishing stats). :(

My personal take on it is that traditional publishing may slowly be going the way of the newspaper due to:

1. the internet with access to countless reading sources as well as its transforming things at a cultural level, entertainment-wise

2. this rotten economy (which encourages people who DO still want to read to either buy second-hand paperbacks, or wait until book can be gifted to them or checked out from the library)

and that POD publishing is on the rise because:

1. first-time authors aren't wanting to give up that dream despite the dismal economy, bankruptcy filings of bookstores, and the folding or consolidation of many traditional publishing houses

and/or

2. more and more people are 'on their own' job-wise, and POD publishing can still be an important part of supplementing or pursuing a self-employment venture
 

gothicangel

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I would also suggest that a large proprtion of these titles are oft rejected and frankly unpublishable.

I should know, I tried selling an unpublishable book a few years ago. Guess what? I started falling for the 'self-publishing' guff and almost parted with £4500.

A frustrated writer doesn't necessarily mean a good writer. I've been critiquing for a good few years; it's quite scary seeing the sheer amount of competition; but quite reassuring about the quality of the competition.
 
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ChaosTitan

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Well, sadly, that's exactly the point. The stats only mean that more people than ever are publishing at the same time that fewer people than ever are buying (based on trad'l publishing stats). :(

The stats only mean that if that's how you choose to interpret them. To me, the stats are saying that more people than ever are publishing, because they have more options to do so outside of the traditional houses. Sure, some people are buying fewer books, but some genres are going as strong as ever (romance, for example).

But you can't get an accurate number of sales increase/decrease by lumping hundreds of thousands of POD titles in with the traditional titles. A good chunk of those POD novels are likely from vanity presses or places like Lulu.

My personal take on it is that traditional publishing may slowly be going the way of the newspaper due to:

1. the internet with access to countless reading sources as well as its transforming things at a cultural level, entertainment-wise

2. this rotten economy (which encourages people who DO still want to read to either buy second-hand paperbacks, or wait until book can be gifted to them or checked out from the library)

Unlike newspapers, which have a single day circulation, books have multiple outlets for resale. They can be sold at discount stores months after initial publication.

1. Sure, the internet is changing things, but even folks who currently use Kindle or other e-readers still often remark they prefer a book in their hands. I think e-books will become bigger players, definitely. But I just don't see paper books going away completely in my lifetime.

2. But those books they buy secondhand, are gifted, or check out of the library are still bound books. What happens to libraries of physical books go away? You can't lend someone a digital copy of a book (at least not with the technology we have at present). So folks who read via the library suddenly have no way of getting books. And e-books are still somewhat comparable in price to paperbacks, so folks are still spending money somewhere.

and that POD publishing is on the rise because:

1. first-time authors aren't wanting to give up that dream despite the dismal economy, bankruptcy filings of bookstores, and the folding or consolidation of many traditional publishing houses

and/or

2. more and more people are 'on their own' job-wise, and POD publishing can still be an important part of supplementing or pursuing a self-employment venture

We'd have to figure out what POD means, though. Are we talking the legit small presses who have don't charge their authors any fees, yet use the POD business model for cheaper distribution? Or are we talking anyone who uses a POD press to print a book (like Lulu)? Because my answers to those two thoughts change depending on who we're talking about. :)
 

Mr Flibble

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I know what it means to me

It means I'm not necessarily stuck with what the 'trad' publishing houses want to give me. More and more I'm finding that the bloated fantasy doorstoppers in the bookshop aren't what I want to read. They're filled with ...okay don't get me started. There's some great stuff. There's also a lot of pap, because this is what trad pubs think people want. And people buy it because that's all there is. ( this is in the UK btw, so it might be different in the US) But they're all so...similar. And I'm finding some absolutely great stuff in the smaller publishers. Many of which have high standards.

If I'm finding more books that I actually enjoy, and if that reaches the trad publishers so they'll print more of what I actually want to read, it's a good thing.

I'm having a cynical day today, don't mind me.
 

Pat~

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The stats only mean that if that's how you choose to interpret them. To me, the stats are saying that more people than ever are publishing, because they have more options to do so outside of the traditional houses. Sure, some people are buying fewer books, but some genres are going as strong as ever (romance, for example).

But you can't get an accurate number of sales increase/decrease by lumping hundreds of thousands of POD titles in with the traditional titles. A good chunk of those POD novels are likely from vanity presses or places like Lulu.

No, I'd agree. I don't think sales reporting was the intent of this info release; the main thing was just that this particular event was unprecedented in publishing history--that POD releases have for the first time outnumbered traditional publishing releases. And again, I'd say that this probably represents a lot of books published that won't be read (due to questionable quality) let alone bought.

Now, I did infer from those stats (concerning the decrease in traditional publishing house output) that fewer people were buying books--as new book buying is what keeps the traditional publishing industry alive. But I'll admit that inference also comes from observing the economy and from several other articles on the list on that same link, (about chapter 11 filings, etc.). I don't think these stats reflect any one thing solely, but probably a blend of contributing factors. Like the article said, it's too soon to read meaning into this, though it is up for conjecture.
 

ChristineR

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This has been around here a few times before--but the more I think about it, the more I think this is meaningless. Ten years ago people were publishing on Usenet and self-publishing on photocopiers. Before that people published with mimeograph machines. Now these people can use Lulu and get an ISBN, or they put it on their website.

How do you count these sort of small scale do it yourself projects? I'm not really sure anything substantial has changed except that the technology has made it feasible for people to produce actual perfect bound books and get them recorded in some International Standard computer system somewhere, which allows them to be counted.
 

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I picked up a non fiction POD book yesterday. The title Angels In The Emergency Room caught my eye. But as I skimmed through the book, not a single description of an "Angelic" event got my attention. Disappointing. Worse than that, on a three or so pages, the corners were overwritten by another page going in a diagonal direction. I've never seen that in traditionally published books. I put that book down in disgust and walked away from the entire rack of POD books. I'm not paying 12 bucks for a misprinted book with thick yellowish paper and stories lacking in interesting details.
 
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