The Bookseller reports that a Nielsen Book study shows that the number of new books being published every year is steadily rising, due largely to the influence of digital and print-on-demand publishing. Of course, this figure comes from the ISBNs that Nielsen issues; if the number of books published without ISBNs (offered for sale directly via websites, local stores, or other means) has also increased, that might make it even greater.

This puts me in mind of the old argument about how the Internet has “killed” the music industry, and the oft-heard retort that, no, it’s just hurting the record labels but that other parts of the music industry are thriving. By the same token, it would seem that the digital world might be hurting the big publishers, but the self-publishers and print-on-demand shops are thriving.

2 COMMENTS

  1. And less of them make it to to the big league due to the mechanics of the long tail.

    This dont mean theres not real problems on the bottom line for a lot of the “gate keepers” who have lost a lot of their ability to predict and control the market, when all of the logistics have changed.

    It’s the same with the music industry the big 1% artists are making head over fits, more artist publish and the total market value is rising and yet the profit’s in the industry is sligtly declining.

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