Reading an article in the Los Angeles Times (”Trust them, it’s a hit,” by Josh Getlin) about the publishing industry’s arcane accounting of copies sold, I was flabbergasted and dismayed by one statistic in particular. I love books, but this is just overwhelming:
Greco estimated that more than 200,000 titles were published last year, which averages out to 22 new books every hour. This is in addition to about 3.5 million already in print.
February 28th, 2007 at 10:43 am
[…] Cary Tennis’ answer to this self-described “young, talented writer” is far more thoughtful than mine, but given the number of books being published every year — and the number of authors desperate but unable to make their ways into print — I don’t really see the point of hand-holding someone who’s unable to get off his butt (or, rather, given the nature of writing, onto his butt) and do the job. […]