Though it is not a specific amount known, researchers have estimated that approximately millions of novels are published each year. With traditional publishing, it was easier to track how many novels were published each year. This was because those who used traditional publishing would go through the same system of getting published. However, with the increase of self-publishing, it is harder to track the number of novels being released each year.
Everyone is not going through a publisher or an agency. Along with that, not everyone is selling their books on large platforms or bookstores, so the best thing that researchers can do is estimate the amount.
It will be hard to say exactly how many novels are being published every year. There are so many publishing companies that are available. There are some that will only publish a few novels. It is expected that publishers release about 600,000 to 1,000,000 novels every year. Take note that these numbers are only available to those who are in the United States.
Most of the books that are being published are self-published. Some writers will have the ability to produce about 1 to 4 novels a day. Not all of the novels will become popular, but some authors are lucky, and they will be able to get some fans who will wait for their latest books to be published and released.
It is not an easy task determining how many novels are published each year. In 2015, 2 million new books were published and about 200,000 were fiction. Printed however does not mean published since many of them were probably also copies of the same novel. Although the amount of published fiction only accounts for about 11% of book publications per year, fictional works tend to make up a larger percentage of the book sales which also makes it confusing, because most books printed tend to be copies of books that were already published as opposed to new publications.
Based on research by scholars at Stanford there could be millions of novels published each year depending on how you define a novel. This is because of the enormous number of books available online which can then become published in print form. If online novels are included in the number of published novels each year, the number gets even higher. The answer to this question is hundreds of thousands to millions.