2009 Report: Self-Published Titles Increase, Traditional Publishing Flat

Posted on April 15, 2010

Bowker has released statistics on U.S. book publishing for 2009. The data was compiled from Bowker's Books In Print database. 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. However, there was a big jump in the number of self-published or non-traditional books published in 2009. Bowker projects that 764,448 non-traditional titles were publishing in 2009 - an 181% increase over 2008.

"The data surrounding traditional publishing suggests that the weak economy is still having an adverse effect in what and how much consumers are willing to purchase," said Kelly Gallagher, vice president of publishing services for Bowker. "However, looking at the overall picture, we're seeing that the face of publishing itself is changing. Non-traditional publishing, especially related to print-on-demand, continues to offer new avenues and opportunities to grow the publishing industry. Given the exponential growth over the past three years, it's showing no signs of abating."

Companies like BiblioBazaar, which cranked out over 270,000 titles in 2009 - really help add to the total number of non-traditional books published.