On-Demand Output Soars
-- Publishers Weekly, 6/2/2008
The total number of new and revised editions released in the U.S. rose 39% in 2007, to 411,422 titles, according to preliminary figures released by R.R. Bowker. Output among traditional titles increased only 1% in the year, but sales of on-demand, short-run and unclassified titles soared, jumping from 21,936 to 134,773. Kelly Gallagher, general manager of business intelligence at Bowker, attributed the increase in the on-demand category to the increase in the use of print-on-demand by mainstream publishers, higher volumes of public domain titles produced using POD and increases in the use of POD by self-publishers and micro-publishers.
| 2002 | 2006 | 2007 Projected | % Chng '06-’07 | % Chng '02-’07 | |
| Agriculture | 1,418 | 1,426 | 1,298 | -9% | -8% |
| Arts | 6,574 | 9,201 | 9,423 | 2% | 43% |
| Biography | 6,873 | 11,271 | 10,615 | -6% | 54% |
| Business | 6,918 | 8,719 | 7,651 | -12% | 11% |
| Computers | 7,564 | 5,472 | 5,709 | 4% | -25% |
| Cookery | 1,956 | 2,705 | 2,673 | -1% | 37% |
| Education | 6,829 | 6,449 | 7,335 | 14% | 7% |
| Fiction | 25,102 | 42,777 | 50,071 | 17% | 99% |
| General Works | 2,085 | 2,078 | 2,346 | 13% | 12% |
| History | 11,362 | 15,241 | 14,764 | -3% | 30% |
| Home Economics | 1,434 | 1,755 | 1,682 | -4% | 17% |
| Juveniles | 30,504 | 30,395 | 30,063 | -1% | -1% |
| Language | 5,924 | 5,134 | 4,846 | -6% | -18% |
| Law | 4,432 | 5,359 | 5,380 | 0% | 21% |
| Literature | 6,261 | 8,227 | 9,796 | 19% | 56% |
| Medicine | 9,495 | 10,931 | 10,720 | -2% | 13% |
| Music | 3,376 | 3,545 | 3,407 | -4% | 1% |
| Personal Finance | 473 | 582 | 538 | -8% | 14% |
| Philosophy, Psychology | 8,894 | 12,961 | 12,635 | -3% | 42% |
| Poetry, Drama | 5,742 | 10,700 | 10,258 | -4% | 79% |
| Religion | 12,253 | 19,854 | 18,956 | -5% | 55% |
| Science | 11,688 | 12,655 | 12,872 | 2% | 10% |
| Sociology, Economics | 20,969 | 27,675 | 24,596 | -11% | 17% |
| Sports, Recreation | 5,800 | 6,666 | 6,363 | -5% | 10% |
| Technology | 6,896 | 7,262 | 6,858 | -6% | -1% |
| Travel | 4,316 | 5,376 | 5,793 | 8% | 34% |
| Traditional Total | 215,138 | 274,416 | 276,649 | 1% | 29% |
| On Demand, Short Run, and Other Unclassified | 32,639 | 21,936 | 134,773 | 514% | 313% |
| Total | 247,777 | 296,352 | 411,422 | 39% | 66% |
| Source: R.R. Bowker | |||||
