Last issue, we updated you on the latest statistics on the growth of self-publishing: in Bowker’s ISBN-defined terms, self-publishing increased by 21 percent in the last year.
However, as we pointed out, Bowker’s figures are incomplete. First, they count only ISBNs—and not all self-publishing authors use ISBNs. In addition, having an ISBN count is not the same thing as having a title count, since multiple ISBNs may be applied to the same title.
That’s why we’re very happy to see Bowker release additional figures showing the number of titles self-published with ISBNs in 2015; that number is 625,327. (The original number of 727,125 ISBNs still stands. But it represents 625,327 books.) All we need now: title counts for years prior to 2015! For more background on this issue, read Publishing Perspectives.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
