<html><body><div id="zimbraEditorContainer" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000" class="3"><div>Good Morning,</div><div><br data-mce-bogus="1"></div><div>Attached is a report from R.R. Bowker outlining the growth (print books) and not (eBooks) in the self-published book genre in the United States during the period 2013-2018. </div><div><br data-mce-bogus="1"></div><div> <!--StartFragment--><span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" data-mce-style="color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;">The numbers, as well as the percentage of growth, in the self-published, print book category are both simply astonishing. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This isn't to say that all (or even very many) of these titles are good, or worthy of acquisition by a library. And reviews can sometimes be difficult to find for self-published titles. But an overall growth rate of 263% (407% if you include only print books) from 2013-2018 makes self-published titles a category not simply to be ignored.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br data-mce-bogus="1"></span></div><div>I have probably said this before, so apologies in advance, but when I started in our business one of the most common questions I used to get was "How many books are published in the United States each year?" The answer was an easy one to remember: 50,000.</div><div><br data-mce-bogus="1"></div><div>That seems like a long time ago now :)</div><div><br data-mce-bogus="1"></div><div>Jim</div><div><br></div><div data-marker="__SIG_PRE__">Jim Flury<br>Technical Services Manager<br>The Library Network<br>41365 Vincenti Court<br>Novi, MI 48375<br>248-536-3100, ext 133<br>Fax 248-536-3098<br>jflury@tln.lib.mi.us</div></div></body></html>