Number of new books published last year: 276,649  (That’s 758 new books per day.)

Number of new business books published last year:  7,651 (That’s nearly one new biz book each hour.)

(Source:  RR Bowker report, 5/28/08)

2 Responses to “Maybe-I-chose-the-wrong-line-of-work factoid of the day”

  1. The Dan Ward says:
    June 2, 2008 at 6:57 pm

    Man those are scary numbers for a writer starting out with a few books and no agent (yet). Every time I go into a bookstore, I feel a bit overwhelmed (ok, more than a bit) by the sheer volume of books on the shelves…

    and then I realize the books on the shelves are the lucky ones, ’cause there’s even more that aren’t on these shelves…

    and that’s intimidating.

    But it’s also good news, because obviously someone’s making the decision to print, distribute and (try to) sell them… right?

  2. Chas Martin says:
    June 9, 2008 at 10:23 am

    Few business books are worth the number of dead trees that publishing requires. An alternative may be to publish the first and last chapter (the only content worth reading in most business books) and post the remaining filler online.
    As for the glut of books, that’s another matter. The business model suggests that quantity is more important than quality – churn is more important than staying power.
    There is a draft on my business book shelf. Space is precious. Titles come and go quickly. A few dozen stick around longer because I intend to lend them to others or to reference them myself later. “A Whole New Mind” and “The Medici Effect” are two of the books I have managed to keep. Actually, I’ve purchased more than one copy of each because the people I’ve loaned them to never returned them – which is evidence that others see the value in these books as well.