Monday, April 14, 2008

Machine Publishing

This is why statistics on annual publishing output as generally constituted are meaningless(NYTimes):
Mr. Parker has generated more than 200,000 books, as an advanced search on Amazon.com under his publishing company shows, making him, in his own words, “the most published author in the history of the planet.” And he makes money doing it. Among the books published under his name are “The Official Patient’s Sourcebook on Acne Rosacea” ($24.95 and 168 pages long); “Stickler Syndrome: A Bibliography and Dictionary for Physicians, Patients and Genome Zesearchers” ($28.95 for 126 pages); and “The 2007-2012 Outlook for Tufted Washable Scatter Rugs, Bathmats and Sets That Measure 6-Feet by 9-Feet or Smaller in India” ($495 for 144 pages).
The variation in publishing segment, tiers of publishers and the increasing numbers of new variations (or definitions of publishing) in publishing models is generally obscured by the headline grabbing "200,000 new titles published" in {fill in year}.

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