The Staggering Statistics of New Book Titles

It is with books as it is with men -- a very small number play a great part; the rest are lost in the multitude. - Voltaire

If multitude described the number of books available in the 1700s, I think we need to come out with a new word for the books available today, in all their various formats. I suggest teratude, which, by my own made up definition, means a trillion or so multitudes.

Last Monday I checked Worldometers (world statistics updated in real time) and discovered that there had been 549,284 new book titles published so far this year. Sunday night I checked again—the number increased to 566,188. That’s 16,904 new titles in less than one week’s time. Yikes!

Another surprising statistic according to Worldometers is that the United Kingdom publishes the most titles. The U.S. comes in second. Out of the 78 countries on the list, twenty publish 10,000 or more new book titles per year.

With so many titles to choose from, it boggles my mind that any author is able to sell more than a couple of copies of any one book, no matter how well-written it might be. I am also amazed that some books survive the test of time to become classics. With so many new books covering shelves, it seems that all of the older ones would be delegated to the back shelves and eventually lost for all time.

My bookshelves confirm that somehow not only classics or valuable rare books survive. I have a few books that belonged to my mother and grandmother. They contain advice that is no longer applicable, so their sentimental value is much more than their monetary worth.

For instance, Getting Ready to be a Mother (1922) offers illustrations, such as a photograph displaying a satisfactory maternity corset. There are detailed descriptions on how the new mother must remain in bed for the first week or two, and it stresses the importance of a nurse or other person to help care for the mother and baby six to eight weeks or longer. I don’t know any new mothers afforded this luxury.

A 1932 cookbook For Making Good Things to Eat, extols the virtue of Snowdrift creamy vegetable oil as “better than butter because it is all pure fat,” and “There is more calory (sic) value in snowdrift pound for pound, than in any of the food you cook with it.”

The Modern Method of Preparing Delightful Foods (1927) is a tiny little cookbook by today’s standards, but it devotes an entire chapter to “Napery and its Care,” complete with starching and storing advice.

Through the years pregnancy advice has changed, opinions on fats and calories have been modified, and paper napkins are the norm rather than the exception, still I find a comforting connection to the past when thumbing through these books—and they’re also entertaining.

Have older books survived on your bookshelves? Do they add sentimental or monetary value to your book collection?

Tags: Voltaire, worldometer, snowdrift, napery, corset, new book titles,

Expensive Books

These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves. - Gilbert Highet

I often hear, “I’d love to buy your book, but I simply can’t afford to spend the money now.” I certainly understand. I'm aware that many people have other priorities and commitments. Though I would like to, I know I can’t spend every cent on books either. That doesn’t, however, keep me from wondering how much it might cost to stock my dream library with diverse and interesting books—if money was not a consideration.

Pretending for a few minutes that I hit the lottery big time, I randomly selected a few titles that I’d like to see displayed on my personal bookshelves. My tab for seven selections is roughly $55 million. I’m glad I didn’t accidently hit any “Buy Now” buttons in the process of my search.

The Birds Of America – Published in the 1800s, this book contains descriptions and illustrations by John James Audubon. In 2000 a copy was bought by Sheikh Saud of Qatar for $8.8 million.

The Codex Leicester – This 72-page handwritten book by Leonardo Da Vinci dates back to the early 1500s. Bill Gates bought it in 1994 for a mere $30.8 million.

The First Folio – A 900-page book of Shakespeare’s plays was published seven years after his death. It sold at Christie’s in New York in 2001 for $6.16 million. According to Wikipedia, it originally sold for one Pound Sterling which is equivalent of about $220.00 today. Therefore, it was never an inexpensive book.

The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer’s 14th century collection of stories was sold in London in 1998 for $11 million.

Geographia – Described as the first atlas, this is Ptolemy's compilation of cartography as it was known during the days of the Roman Empire in the 2nd century. In 2006, one of the two known copies sold at auction for $3.9 million.

Tamerlane and Other Poems – This was the first book written by Edgar Allan Poe (supposedly at the age of 14), but it was published anonymously listing the author only as “a Bostonian.” It sold in 2009 for $662,500.

Where the Wild Things Are – The first edition (1963) of this book by Maurice Sendak is estimated to be worth over $10,000 if it’s in excellent condition with the original dust jacket, according to onlinecolleges.net.

Since the event of eBooks and POD publishing, I’m wondering if books by any of today’s authors will ever be worth a massive amount of money. What do you think?

A quick note for those who are unable or unwilling to spend big bucks for books, I’d like to mention that Amazon (last time I checked) was offering The Ride for only $15.75 (a savings of $11.24)! If this is the opportunity you've been waiting on in order to own your very own copy, click here to buy now.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next Monday.

Tags: Gilbert Highet, Codex Leicester, Audubon, First Folio, Canterbury Tales, Tamerlane, Where the Wild Things Are, expensive books, the Ride,

Is Fiction Dead?

Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I recently read the article “Where Have All the Mailers Gone” by Lee Siegel declaring that fiction is dead. Now I’m wondering if I need to have a funeral service for my stack of to-read books. Also if I don’t have a non-fiction story to write, should I put down my pen (actually my keyboard) and look for something else to do?

Siegel says, “The practice is no longer a vocation. It has become a profession, and professions are not characterized by creative mischief.”

According to Dictionary.com, the first definition of vocation is, “a particular occupation, business or profession, calling.” The first definition for profession is, “a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science.” The second definition is, “any vocation or business.”

Excuse me if I’m a little slow, but I don’t see a difference between vocation and profession. The words seem interchangeable. Is he trying to say writers are only in it for the money and not as a creative outlet? If so, I think he is sadly out of touch with ninety-nine percent of authors.

He also writes, “But with the exception of a few ambitious and obsessively competitive-fiction writers and their agents and editors, no one goes to a current novel or story for the ineffable private and public clarity fiction once provided.”

Once again, I’m not sure what that statement means. I “go to” fiction for the enjoyment of reading interesting and entertaining novels, both old and new. If while I’m reading, I’m introduced to an unfamiliar world or identify on some level with the characters or their plight, that’s an added bonus. Some of my book selections might be from the New York Times bestseller list while other are from lesser known or newly emerging authors. The status or ambition of the author is not a contributing factor to my enjoyment level.

Another of his statements, "The most interesting, perceptive and provocative writers of our moment write narrative nonfiction." I know there are some excellent non-fiction books out there, but whether they’re better than current fiction is a matter of preference. I know my husband reads mostly non-fiction while I read mostly fiction, but neither of us opposes tackling a good book out of our usual genre.

Siegel remarks that fiction is, "a museum-piece genre most of whose practitioners are more like cripplingly self-conscious curators or theoreticians than writers." That certainly doesn’t sound very flattering toward fiction and those of us who like writing it, but I guess he has a right to his opinion.

My opinion is that fiction is alive and well, and today’s authors are as talented as ever. Therefore, I don’t think I’ll need that funeral service for my unread books. I don't plan to retire my keyboard either.

What do you think of Lee Siegel’s allegations? Do you think fiction is dead?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you next Monday.

Tags: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Lee Siegel, fiction is dead, profession, vocation,

Grammar, Typos, and Omissions

Only in grammar can you be more than perfect. - William Safire

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July.

Last Monday at Mystery Writing is Murder, Elizabeth Spann Craig blogged about "Little Mistakes - How Much Do They Matter," which got me thinking (as good blogs should and hers always do) how much do they matter.

I’m not talking content errors – I discussed those in a previous blog titled “Bloopers.” I mean simple little mistakes that have to do with typos, grammar and word omissions. So I began my intensive internet research. OK it wasn’t really a thorough search—more of a diversion to keep from working on a different writing project. Although minor errors are more difficult to track down, I thought I’d share some of what I discovered.

Omitting a three letter word made a big difference in one edition of the Bible. Printed in 1631, the now infamous "Wicked Bible" contains the phrase, “Thou shalt commit adultery.” (News headlines make me wonder if we are still handing out this version to our politicians.)

There’s a theory that the name 'Imogene' from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline was most likely supposed to be the old Gaelic name, Innogen. It seems that a printing error in 1623 created the new name.

In more recent accounts, the books in the Twilight series popped up regularly. It seems along with numerous reports of content mistakes there are also many typos and word omissions. Readers don’t seem a bit put off by the mistakes as the books keep selling. Errors also didn’t keep the books from being made into movies. I can’t imagine Stephenie Meyer is losing too much sleep over any of the slip-ups.

Since the 1950s there’s been an omission of an “a” in Chapter 2 of an educational edition of Lord of the Flies.

Someone thinks the use of the word “Enamored” in Chapter 12 of To Kill a Mockingbird is a mistake as the definition doesn’t make sense in the way the word is used.

There’s a report that six professional proofreaders failed to catch the mistake in a new edition of Shakespeare’s Hamlet which read, “To be or to be.”

There are 75 instances in Jane Austen’s six novels where she used ‘their’ instead of ‘his’ or ‘her.’ (For Jane Austen fans, there’s a great site call Jane Austen Information where I ran across the article “Jane Austen and other famous authors violate what everyone learned in their English class.” )

In May of 2008 Princeton University Press recalled all copies of one of its spring titles when they discovered more than 90 spelling and grammar mistakes in the 245-page book. You can read the entire article here.

Other than the above example, what I got out of my research is that if you’ve got a good story, don’t sweat the small stuff. Though I’ll continue to make my writing as error free as I can, I am determined to quit beating myself up whenever I find a mistake in my own work.

I admit it doesn’t bother me if I run across a few grammar errors, typos or word omissions when I’m reading, but if the mistakes become excessive, I do lose track of the story and focus more on finding another error.

Do you have any examples of proofreading oversights in popular books? Have you ever quit reading a book because of mistakes? Are you bothered more by your own errors than those of others?

By the way, I suggest stopping by Mystery Writing is Murder to read Elizabeth’s blog on this subject, and while you’re there you’ll probably want to read a lot more of her posts. They’re always entertaining, interesting and informative.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you next Monday.


Tags: William Safire, Elizabeth Spann Craig, Shakespeare, Wicked Bible, Jane Austen,Stephenie Meyer