News & Trends: Fast Stats

181% Increase from 2008 to 2009 in the number of titles produced by self-publishers and "micro-niche" publishers, according to Bowker, a provider of bibliographic information management solutions. These types of publishers produced 764,448 titles last year.

1,000 Number of titles released in Apple's iBookstore at launch by Zondervan, one of the first publishers to release titles for the iPad. According to the Christian publisher, it will release all its future e-books in an iPad version.

$23.9 billion Net sales U.S. book publishers had last year, down from 
$24.3 billion in 2008—a 1.8-percent decrease.
Source: Association of American Publishers

460 Number of book challenges the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom recorded in 2009. The ALA defines a challenge as "a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school, requesting that materials be removed or restricted because of content or appropriateness." The "ttyl, ttfn, l8r, g8r" series by Lauren Myracle was No. 1 on the ALA's list of most challenged books last year. Stephenie Meyer's best-selling "Twilight" series was No. 5.