ABSTRACT
The printed book remains one of the most important forms of mass media in 1999. The advent of motion pictures, radio, television and, in recent times, cable television and home video were expected to kill the book industry. Printed text was seen, by this crude version of the substitution effect, to be gradually and virtually eliminated. But book publishing is as it has ever been. Although often thought of as a small-time backwater media business, versus the high-flying television or movie industry, book publishing has survived continuing consolidations and mergers and continues to provide opportunities for newcomers. Book publishing is as active and important—indeed more important—than ever. Forget any notion that book publishing is languishing. A staggering 1.3 million book titles were in print at the start of 1997; of these, 140,000 were published in 1996. The figure approached and exceeded one and half million by 1999. Consider that in 1947, the first edition of Books in Print listed 85,000 titles representing 357 publishers. The 1996 edition listed 49,000 book publishers. This is evidence that there is not one single book market, but many small ones (e.g., trade, children’s, textbooks, and others analyzed below). 1
