Bowker Puts Title Output Close to 300,000

-- Publishers Weekly, 6/1/2007

If you thought that producing 175,000 titles annually was too much, then you'll really be disturbed by the new figures Bowker has arrived at. A new methodology has increased the number of new titles released in 2005 to 282,500, and Bowker estimates that in 2006 that number hit 291,920, a 3% increase over 2005. According to Bowker, it has applied the new formula to its historical numbers, keeping the trend line intact. Using the new measurements, Bowker now estimates that 295,523 titles were published in 2004. Bowker says the higher number is the result of adding books that were in unclassified subject categories, didn't include prices and had nontraditional bindings.