The U.S. publishing industry passed a key marker last year, with the publication of more "on-demand" or short-run titles than traditional books, a U.S. company that keeps publishing statistics says.

While the swing may be temporary, caused as major publishers retrenched, it could be "a watershed year in the book publishing industry, fuelled by the changing dynamics of the marketplace and the proliferation of sophisticated publishing technologies," said Kelly Gallagher, vice-president of publisher services for Bowker, which provides bibliographic data and services.

Based on preliminary figures, Bowker recently said the number of traditional titles published in the U.S. fell 3.2 per cent or by about 9,100 in 2008.

In contrast, it estimated that about 285,400 on-demand books were produced last year, "a staggering 132 per cent increase" over the 2007 total of nearly 123,300. Bowker is based in New Providence, N.J.

On-demand books are publications only printed when a buyer wants a copy, as opposed to the traditional model, which prints first and then hopes to sell the copies.

ATM for books

New technologies are making it easier to produce on-demand books.

On Demand Books LLC, a New York company, has proprietary software and the high-speed Espresso Book Machine that can print, bind and trim a paperback in minutes, using digital files. "In essence, an ATM for books," the company website said.

Its system is useful for books that are read once, which includes much fiction and non-fiction, "but also encyclopedias, dictionaries, manuals, atlases and so on that are obsolete on the day of publication," chairman Jason Epstein said in a recent speech.