News

UK publishes more books than ever in 2009

26.01.10 | Catherine Neilan

Last year saw the largest number of titles published since records began 15 years ago, Nielsen Book figures have shown.

The UK publishing industry produced more than 133,000 titles during 2009 - an increase of 3.2% on the previous 12 months - hitting the highest output for a single year ever.

When Nielsen first began collating the data, the UK produced fewer than 100,000 titles a year. The highest until now had been 14 shy of 130,000, a figure reached in 2003.

Nielsen said: "The increases can be accounted for in part by growth in print-on-demand (POD) and digital product, which we expect to continue to increase in the future."

English-language titles recorded by Nielsen Book as having been published somewhere in the world, excluding UK and Ireland, have also grown exponentially, with 2009 showing a record 604,768 publications.

The new book production figures have also increased the overall number of bibliographic records held on the Nielsen Book database to 10.4m globally and 5.8m for UK & Ireland.

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By Ingrid Cranfield

When my first book was published in 1976, the word was that the UK published 50,000 books per year. The figure wasn't, I imagine, just pulled out of a hat but must have been based on some sort of data.

Wed, 27/01/2010 - 22:52
By John H Walsh

A frightening figure indeed. I wonder if Nielsen can tell us how many of these (and those from the previous year) sold more than 52 copies over a 52 week period. Now that would be interesting - and truly frightening!

Tue, 26/01/2010 - 18:13
By Derek Albiston

I'd like to know how many units of that 133,000 titles were produced - or an average no. of units per title in 2003 compared to 2009. (Not sure what that would tell me though).
Frightening? No. Fascinating.

Wed, 27/01/2010 - 13:38
By Pedant

"...since records began 15 years ago." The record of publication levels in the UK extends further into the past than that. Nielsen/Whitaker have been maintaining a commercial database of publications since the 1970's, and no doubt the British Library's own records go further back still.
I suspect 15 years reflects the extent of our interest in these figures!

Wed, 27/01/2010 - 16:45
By John H Walsh

A frightening figure indeed. I wonder if Nielsen can tell us how many of these (and those from the previous year) sold more than 52 copies over a 52 week period. Now that would be interesting - and truly frightening!

Tue, 26/01/2010 - 18:13
By Derek Albiston

I'd like to know how many units of that 133,000 titles were produced - or an average no. of units per title in 2003 compared to 2009. (Not sure what that would tell me though).
Frightening? No. Fascinating.

Wed, 27/01/2010 - 13:38
By Pedant

"...since records began 15 years ago." The record of publication levels in the UK extends further into the past than that. Nielsen/Whitaker have been maintaining a commercial database of publications since the 1970's, and no doubt the British Library's own records go further back still.
I suspect 15 years reflects the extent of our interest in these figures!

Wed, 27/01/2010 - 16:45
By Ingrid Cranfield

When my first book was published in 1976, the word was that the UK published 50,000 books per year. The figure wasn't, I imagine, just pulled out of a hat but must have been based on some sort of data.

Wed, 27/01/2010 - 22:52

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