The number of “traditionally” produced print titles rose 3.3% in 2012 to 301,642, according to new figures released Tuesday morning by R.R. Bowker. The total includes print books from both traditional publishing houses as well as self-publishers, but does not include works from nontraditional companies that specialize it reprints of public domain titles. Output from those companies rose 10.9%, to 1,460,168. Taken together, total print output rose 9.5% in 2012 to 1,761,810.
According to Bowker, the number of fiction print books rose 10%, to 47,420 titles. The number of business books jumped 38% in the year, to 13,998 titles, but the number of biographies fell 10%, to 10,931. The number of juvenile titles rose nearly 6% in the year, to 32,624 and the number of religion books rose 2% to 18,971.
Although Bowker has revised its figures for 2010 and 2011, the data shows that the number of traditionally published books has held up well in the digital age. Between 2009--the year e-books began to make meaningful inroads in the industry--and 2012, print output fell by less than 1%.
