[Publib] Number of trees used to for paper to print books in the US

[Walt Crawford]

According to the Book Industry Study Group, 3.1 billion books were sold in
the U.S. in 2006. Here's the press release for their report:
http://www.bisg.org/news/press.php?pressid=42

They also show total sales around $35 billion, which comes out to a little
over $11 per item. Assuming that most books sold are mass-market paperbacks,
that's not unreasonable.

These are much higher numbers than AAP's numbers, which characteristically
omit "small" publishers--those with annual sales under $50 million, PoD,
etc. When BISG started studying that broader market, they found it to be
considerably larger than people expected. (There are tens of thousands of
small publishers in the U.S., as compared to fewer than a hundred large
publishers.)

-walt crawford-

On Tue, May 13, 2008 at 7:09 AM, Epling, Jimmie (KDLA) <Jimmie.Epling at ky.gov>
wrote:

>  I am looking for the total number of individual books published in the
> US.  The numbers I have found indicate the number of titles published, but
> not the total number of books.  As an example, I know 12 million copies of
> the last Harry Potter book was printed in the US last year.  When the total
> run of every title published in the last year is added up, I know it must be
> in the multi-millions.  I'm trying to get a handle on this number.  Can
> anyone help?
>
>
>
> I have learned that it takes on average 20 million trees each year to
> print the books sold in the US.  I have learned it takes 12,000 trees to
> print a million copies of a 250 page book.  I have also learned on average
> it takes one tree to print 24 books.
>
>
>
> These are interesting statistics that might help demonstrate the positive
> impact libraries have on the environment.  My goal is to develop some
> "green" statistics for library use.
>
>
>
> Jimmie
>
>
>
> Jimmie Epling
>
> Regional Library Consultant
>
> FIVCO/Big Sandy Regional Office
>
> Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives
>
> P.O. Box 370, 122 South Main Cross St.
>
> Louisa, KY 41230-0370
>
> O: 606.638.4797   C: 606.521.0107   F: 606.638.0586
>
> jimmie.epling at ky.gov
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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