What is the world coming to? (hint: an end)

Hard to imagine, but the number of titles released in 2005 actually declined! Is it possible that all of the drivel we are capable of producing has been exhausted? Or that everyone has soured on the whole ever-increasing POD expense factor and given up? (Could be, which would explain the skyrocketing interest in Lulu and their counterparts.) Or is it just that Random, et. al. have decided to release more conservatively?

Not that it matters. Of the 172,000 titles released in 2005, I might get to read about 75 of them (not including the PODs). And let's not forget that I wrote one of them too.

Okay, actually my novel might be very easy to forget; it's resting gently at 36,982 on Amazon. *yawn*

So, we've got 172,000 books in 2005--and PublishAmerica has pulled at least one of them out of that number.

Turns out the publishing giant (midget) is being sued by, from what I can tell, at least 60 people over libelous content in one the books they have published, once again proving PA spends not a second of effort in vetting their books. The original lawsuit was for $46 million (which PA should have earned sometime in 2035) but was later dropped to $3 million (which PA should have earned sometime in 2010.)

If PA crashes and burns (doubtful, like trying to rid the world of cockroaches), that would reduce the annual title output to 150,000. (*rim shot*)

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In happier news, POD pioneer author, Amanda Brown (the gal responsible for the LEGALLY BLONDE series, originally published with Authorhouse), just landed another traditional deal. From Publishers Marketplace:

Creator of the LEGALLY BLONDE series Amanda Brown's SCHOOL OF FORTUNE, about a naive Texan oil heiress who is disowned by her mother after leaving her fiance, Lance, a Dallas Cowboys quarterback with a dirty little secret, at the altar, who must earn a degree from school - ANY school - in order to gain access to her grandfather's billions, to Elizabeth Beier at St. Martin's, at auction, by Nicholas Ellison.

Congrats to Ms. Brown. And the only thing cooler than a book deal with St. Martin's is having Nick Ellison for an agent. Now that's the good life.