Latest From Francine Trevens

Francine Trevens, of TnT Classic Books, is working on the second part of her memoir of childhood during the Great Depression and Second World War. It seems there has been little peace ever since. “Remembering our Parents – stories and sayings from mom and dad,” to be released in September, has a section from Francine about her dad and his reaction to the sale of her first poem. Selection was taken directly from her memoir. It is the third book in the last two years which has contributions from Francine. The first was “Living the Life of My Dreams” compiled by Caryn FitzGerald, and published as an ebook in 2011, and published more recently in paper. And the third piece of prose from Francine to be published appears in “Imperfect Weddings are Best” by Dr. Sherry L. Meinberg, published by Create Space earlier this year. Francine's contribution is the piece "My Leftovers."

And another Prize for a Pleasant Dreams Book: Written by Francine L.Trevens and illustrated by Maggie Cousins, Gremlins, Genies and Trolls, Oh My! won honorable mention in 2012 Global E Book Awards.

Contact Francine through tntclassics@aol.com.

Publishers of PIXIE TALES, named one of 25 best books of 2011 by Free Book Reviews.

Norman Beim Wins Honorable Mention

Norman Beim's play, The Wrath Of God (now retitled THE RAFFERTYS), won Honorable Mention in The Second Annual Ohio State New Play Contest.

And reviews have been coming in:  

Gate Theatre, Dublin: "Engaging...the characters are well drawn and the piece has an admirable forward momentum which drives the action from beginning to end..."

Westport Country Playhouse: "A solid family drama with plenty of conflict."

Goodman Theatre, Chicago: "The character of Tim was especially riveting. The conflict is wonderfully illustrated and compelling."

Go to www.normanbeim.com for ordering information.

Publishing Market Shows Steady Title Growth in 2011 Fueled Largely by Self-Publishing Sector

From marketwatch.com 

NEW PROVIDENCE, N.J., June 5, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Bowker, the global leader in bibliographic information, released its annual report on U. S. print book publishing for 2011, compiled from its Books In Print® database. Based on preliminary figures from U.S. publishers, Bowker is projecting that traditional print book output grew six percent in 2011, from 328,259 titles in 2010 to a projected 347,178 in 2011, driven almost exclusively by a strong self-publishing market. This is the most significant expansion in more than four years for America's traditional publishing sector, but removing self-publishing from the equation would show that the market is relatively flat from 2010.

"Transformation of our industry has brought on a time of rich innovation in the publishing models we now have today. What was once relegated to the outskirts of our industry--and even took on demeaning names like 'vanity press' is now not only a viable alternative but what is driving the title growth of our industry today," said Kelly Gallagher, Vice-President, Bowker Market Research. "From that standpoint, self-publishing is a true legitimate power to be reckoned with. Coupled with the explosive growth of e-books and digital content - these two forces are moving the industry in dramatic ways."

Genres that contributed to the robust growth in the Traditional sector include Education, with a hefty 20 percent increase, Music and Philosophy & Psychology (both up 14 percent), Religion (up 12 percent), and Juveniles, Biography, and Business, which all increased by 11 percent. Publishing mainstay Fiction - the largest genre - turned around a multi-year decline with a notable 13 percent increase.

Conversely, "Unclassified" books, which comprise mostly Reprint/POD houses specializing in public domain works marketed almost exclusively on the web, ended a years-long streak of triple digit growth, declining 69 percent in 2011 from 2010. The Reprint/POD sector accounts for the largest ISBN output - more than 1.1 million in 2011 alone -- and as a result, drove an overall decline in print book output of 63 percent. Audiobooks and e-books are excluded.

"It's important to look at these numbers in the context of the last several years," said Mr. Gallagher. "The last few years of Reprint/POD output has shown explosive growth that was simply not sustainable. Despite this year's decline, the output from this sector is still up about 15 percent over 2009. It continues to be a vibrant sector of the market."

Overall, publishing output is dominated by a handful of large Reprint/POD houses. In fact the top three - Bibliobazaar, General Books and VDM Verlag -- accounted for over 72% of the total yearly output in 2011. The largest POD publisher was Bibliobazaar with 773,857 ISBNs.

Publisher ISBNs
BiblioBazaar 773,857
General Books LLC 249,871
VDM Verlag Dr. Mueller e.K. 68,509
CreateSpace 57,512
International Business Publications, USA 14,294
Kessinger Publishing, LLC 13,395
AuthorHouse 10,644
Literary Licensing, LLC 9,721
Xlibris Corporation 8,152

Bowker, an affiliated business of ProQuest, has produced the venerable Books In Print bibliographic database, a go-to resource for the entire book business, for more than 50 years. Numbers for its annual output report are gathered as a result of the company's maintenance of this essential work and reported through PubTrack Production Trends Analysis. Books In Print is the only bibliographic database with nearly 17 million U.S. book, e-book, audiobook and video titles. It is widely regarded throughout the publishing industry as the most authoritative and comprehensive source of bibliographic data available worldwide, and has been a trusted source of information in North America for more than 50 years. If changes in industry estimates occur, they will be reflected in a later published report.

Read the full statistics report here: http://www.bowker.com/assets/downloads/products/isbn_output_2002-2011.pdf