Melville House Books

“A study announced Tuesday estimates that a record 195,000 new works came out in 2004, a 14 percent jump over the previous year and 72 percent higher than in 1995,” notes an Associated Press wire story. The report was issued by R.R. Bowker, the “New Providence, N.J.-based company that compiles statistics on books published in the United States.” As the A.P. report notes, “The Bowker report follows a survey released last week from the Book Industry Study Group, which estimates that the actual number of books sold in 2004 dropped by 40 million from the previous year.” As Bowker’s Andrew Grabois tells the A.P., “No one wants to cut back, that’s pretty obvious.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.