July 17, 2004

Book Lottery Numbers

 

The stats from R.R. Bowker’s (Bookwire) press release U.S. book production are as follows (2003 data, % change is from prior year unless otherwise stated):



175,000 new titles and editions, up 19%



22, 914 new titles by the largest trade houses, up 2.4% – of which 45% of all new titles were adult fiction and juvenile literature.



12,003 university press new titles, down 2.2% – psychology and religion showing significant increases.



50.8% increase in new titles from ten years ago for all U.S. publishers



17,021 general adult fiction titles, down 1.6% – the release points out that this is one of only three categories to show a decline, and the first year in the past 13 that fiction did not register an increase.



Juvenile titles increased a “stunning” 45% gain to 16,283 titles, and adult biography, history and religion increased in the double digits, while arts, business and travel titles declined “significantly.



Quoting directly from the release:



10,877 new publishers registered for International Standard Book Numbers in 2003, an increase of 226 (2.1%) over 2002.



California is home to 16,787 publishers, far more than any other state, and more than double the 7,371 located in New York State. New York City still leads all U.S. cities and 45 of 50 states with 3,347 publishers.



51% of all new titles published in 2003 by the three largest print-on-demand publishers were fiction, poetry or drama. These categories accounted for 57% of all titles published since 1998 by the same POD houses.



“The growth in adult non-fiction categories, first seen in the months following 9/11, accelerated in 2003,” said Andrew Grabois, senior director of publisher relations and content development for New Providence, N.J.-based R.R. Bowker. “The question for publishers to consider in the coming months is whether the public’s interest in current affairs is a new swing of the pendulum or a passing historical moment. For now, publishers will try to produce new products to satisfy a market caught up in the drama of war, partisan politics and the cultural divide. In fact, the large trade houses are publishing so many new titles in the scholarly disciplines that one day soon they will surpass the annual output of university presses in these categories and begin to compete for the same customers.”

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"Book Lottery Numbers" was posted July 17, 2004 and written by Bud Parr.

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Recent Comments

Hi Bud,

This is so bittersweet to read. I wish U of Penn more than luck in tackling the collection and making an exhibit for the books. I can’t wait to see the store again. I used to work at Gotham (all too) briefly, from the summer of 2001 to the fall of 2002 when I was 19 and in school for illustration. The building, the books, and especially the people (I had amazing co-workers, plus some really lovely customers) have a special place in my heart. I’m was hoping the link would mention Andreas (Andy) Brown, the last owner of GBM, but no such luck.

I was going to venture a guess that if the old man you met at the store was a GBM employee it might have been Phillip Lyman, but my understanding was Mr. Lyman was notoriously well-read (and had substantial library himself) so I suppose he would not have been reading Dante for the first time when you met him. More likely it was one of our splendid customers. It happened more than once that one customer on the floor would ask me about an author or title and I would meet them with my perfectly hopeless stare ‘n stammer—until another customer that had overheard the plea would effortlessly proffer the desired answer or suggestion. I learned so much working there, from everyone, but was a pretty useless specimen while the learning percolated. One of the more useful employees (our resident poetry expert) recently got a shout-out over at the New Yorker’s book blog after being made famous at the splendiferous Kwik Meal #1 cart:

New Yorker Link

One more book nerdy bit before I cut off the nostalgia trip. The above-mentioned Marc was the first person to Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino in my hands; I read it up in the 2nd floor gallery on my lunch breaks (lunch from Kwik Meal #1, of course), surrounded by art books and Edward Gorey paraphernalia. That book took (and takes, I’ve re-read it many times) me so many places, but when I’m lucky it takes me back to Gotham’s gallery, by the 2nd floor window where the constant refrain of the gold and diamond sellers coming in through the window mingled with the dulcet tones of NPR from a radio bigger than a microwave and the smell of old paper—all unchanged almost more than a decade later. At least in my mind. It’s still one of my favorite books (and authors), ever. Marc also blessed me with recommendations of Wallace Stevens’ Palm At The End of the Mind, Moby Dick with the Rockwell Kent illustrations, and my first ever NYC apartment: a little studio over in Astoria, Queens. Everyone at that store was overflowing and generous with knowledge, stories and history.

Places like Gotham do more than provide fodder for sentimental blog comment drivel though; I hope the lessons learned from the ongoing troubles are shaping a new generation of booksellers and customers that can find ways to thrive. Bookstores don’t belong in museums. Wise men fish there.

– (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
on “Well That's That”


Best wishes for the holidays, Bud.

I used to work in the Pan Am/Met Life Building in Manhattan.  I would walk over to Gotham at lunch and browse, browse, browse.  Books were the only thing I ever bought on that stree.  It’s a shame it’s gone.  Thanks for the update for those of us no longer living in NYC.  Atlanta is not so much a book haven.

Best,
Jim H.

– Jim H.
on “Well That's That”


Yeah, for all of our technology - which is great - I mean you and I are talking about this from two ends of the country - but there’s nothing like being there.

– Bud Parr
on “Well That's That”