Barnes & Noble Expects to Post Loss

The number of books being publishing is quickly shrinking, according to a report released on Tuesday -- just another negative publishing trend leading up to release, later this week, of the Barnes & Noble(BKS Quote) earnings.

With publishers cutting back new releases in response to declining sales, an estimated 275,000 traditional books were released in the United States last year, a drop of about 9,000 from 2007, according to Bowker, a New Jersey-based company that compiles industry statistics.

Categories with the biggest reductions included travel, religion and biography, Bowker said. But the number of "on-demand" books, a category featuring works with tiny, digitally stored print runs, topped 285,000 in 2008, the first time they outnumbered traditional texts. In 2006, there were fewer than 22,000 on-demand titles, which have become an increasingly popular way to bring old books back in print or keep recent releases from going out of print. ...