Sunday, February 13, 2011

It's not all doom and gloom


Somedays it feels like the world is spinning at about 17,000 mph and the days are filled with publishing doom and gloom. But I saw this article and it made my day a little brighter. Not crazy bright, more like a lit match on the dark side of the moon. But brighter none-the-less.

Book Sales Near All-Time Highs: Americans bought 751,729,000 books in 2010, that's many millions more books sold than in any other year. 

There Are More Original Book Titles: "In 2008, there were more original book titles published in print than ever before: 289,729 different titles in the U.S. alone." 

And More Publishers Themselves: "In 2007, there were more U.S. publishers than ever before: 74,240 (that's compared with 397 in 1925). This figure has been rising every year since the data has been collected." 

And More Authors: "In 2005, there were more published authors in the U.S. than ever before: 185,275 (compared, for example, with eighty-two in 1850)."

Revenue Is Around Record Heights: "In 2008, the last year complete numbers are available, overall revenue from book sales in the U.S. was at $24.255 billion, down just a tick from $24.959 billion in 2007, the all-time high."  

Literacy, As Well: "Adult literacy in the U.S. is also at an all-time high: 242,895,000 adults (98 percent of the adult population) were considered literate in 2010."

Don't Forget About Libraries
: "Library membership in the U.S. is at an all-time high: 208,904,000 Americans held library cards in 2009.


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