Bowker reports U.S. book production declines 3% in 2008, but "On Demand" publishing more than doubles

"Bowker has released statistics on U.S. book publishing for 2008, compiled from its Books In Print database. Based on preliminary figures from U.S. publishers, Bowker is projecting that U.S. title output in 2008 decreased by 3.2%, with 275,232 new titles and editions, down from the 284,370 that were published in 2007. Despite this decline in traditional book publishing, there was another extraordinary year of growth in the reported number of 'On Demand' and short-run books produced in 2008. Bowker projects that 285,394 On Demand books were produced last year, a staggering 132% increase over last year's final total of 123,276 titles. This is the second consecutive year of triple-digit growth in the On Demand segment, which in 2008 was 462% above levels seen as recently as 2006"