A Surprise from Bowker

The BusinessWire story's headline reads: "U.S. Book Production Plummets 18,000 in 2005, According to Bowker Statistics; Smaller Publishers Show the Largest Drop in New Titles...."

The decline in U.S. book production is the first since 1999, according to the story, which gets its information from Bowker's Books in Print database.

Fewer books means fewer authors promoting books, which could be good news for your next book promotion campaign. But before you book that flight for Chicago or New York, remember that every author (and every book publicist) in North America is still pitching story ideas to Oprah, Today, Good Morning America, the View, and so forth.

With the costs of paper and transportation rising, it probably should come as no surprise that publishers, large and small, are being especially cautious these days. And who knows? That may eventually lead to explosive growth in the world of ebooks.

One way or another, the media will find the authors it needs to speak as experts about every topic under the sun. Will the shrinking number of new books cause less competition among publishers and authors for book promotion opportunities? Stay tuned.