Title Output Falls

-- Publishers Weekly, 5/10/2006

After four straight years that included some huge increases, title output fell 9.5% in 2005 to 172,000 new titles and editions, according to preliminary estimates from R.R. Bowker. Figures indicate that the largest decline occurred at small and mid-sized houses; production from the smallest house fell 7%, while new titles from small-to-medium and medium-to-large publishers dropped 10% and 15%, respectively. New titles from the largest houses fell 4.7%, to 23.017, while new titles from university press rose 1.8%.

Bowker said that every broad category with the exception of legal showed significant declines in production with output in general adult fiction and children’s books down by double-digits. Religion, biography, history and technology all had big declines last year, while sports and recreation had the largest gain in output at 22%. The number of adult fiction titles rose 6.9%.

Gary Aiello, Bowker COO, said early indications are that with costs increasing, publishers are being cautious about the number of titles they will publish in 2006.