Book production is up . . . and down. Bowker, the international agency that issues ISBNs and tracks publishing statistics reports in Publishers Weekly that traditionally published book production fell 3% in 2008, down to 275,232 titles. Meanwhile, on-demand and short run digital production is up a whopping 132% to 285,394 titles. On-demand and short run printing is the production method of choice for self-publishers. Thus publishing growth is attributed primarily to authors publishing their own works, mostly through publishing services companies like Xlibris, AuthorHouse etc. These books, which are rarely stocked in bookstores sell, on average, less than 99 copies total. Although the growth in the production method is substantial, the growth in book sales is not. With major New York houses cutting or eliminating acquisitions of new titles in the past six months, and national chains like Borders and B&N putting moratoriums on new inventory purchases, book publishing has been turned upside down. I’m not sure this is necessarily a bad thing. In the past five years, the growth of new titles published in the United States has exploded. Sadly, the number of readers buying new books has not, resulting in massive numbers of unsold books ending their short unread lives in landfills or recycling centers. Perhaps a better balance between books published and buyers ready to buy them will be an odd beneficial result of the economic meltdown.