
Houghton's large textbook division isn't affected by the stoppage, but the trade and reference division is big enough to publish about 400 titles a year, including the works of Philip Roth. Some of its books for coming years already are under contract, but many others normally would be new acquisitions.
A freeze of, say, three months could mean 50 fewer titles down the road. While some critics think too many books come out every year, publishers say they need a steady stream of fresh titles to attract a fickle reading public.
Book chains including Barnes & Noble and Borders have seen sales slow. Sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers fell 2% in September at $1.06 billion and were down by 1.5% for the year. (info from The Wall Street Journal)
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