Browse > Home / Archive: July 2006

Sobering Statistics About The Book Industry

July 3, 2006

I recently attended the Book Expo of America (BEA) — the annual convention of the book industry. Thousands of new books are on display by hundreds of publishers. As an author, it is daunting to see how many new titles are released each year. In fact, I was given a few statistics that you may find interesting (and shocking).

  • Each year, there are 172,000 new books published in the United States.
  • Of the 172,000, only 1,000 books sell more than 50,000 copies in retail channels
  • Less than 25,000 sell more than 5,000 copies
  • 93% of books published (160,000) sell less than 1,000 copies
  • According to one source, there are also over 200,000 books published in the United Kingdom each year. That’s nearly 400,000 books published each year in just the US and the UK.

    • Sobering statistics for anyone who is (or wants to be) an author.

    Filed Under General Business · 15 Comments  

    « Previous Page