 | 3 Jun 09 |
If there was ever a marker for the state of the economy, it was seen at BEA last week. Some of the big boy publishers, like Macmillan, didn’t have booths set up this year, and arcs were as scarce as snow in Louisiana. I helped work the HWA booth that weekend and although we were set up in some dark corner of Writers Row, we did get a decent amount of traffic. Understandable since we were one of the few booths giving away free books.
Although BEA garnered smaller crowds this year than last, word has it that they’re planning to move the event to the middle of the week next year. I suppose they have their reasons, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what they might be. With people doing all they can to hold onto the jobs they have now, how can they possibly expect them to take off of work for three days in the middle of the week to attend the event? To me, moving it to mid-week is a kiss of death—but that’s just me, and what the heck do I know?
Smaller crowds or not, I enjoyed BEA, aching feet and all, but I have to wonder, as an author, is it really worth the time and effort? Aren’t we trying to get to readers? And if so, who ARE today’s readers? The latest statistics from R.R. Bowker, the exclusive U.S. ISBN and SANS agency, show the current buyer trends—
The average book reader last year was 45 years old. Women comprise 65% of buyers. Of all Americans 13 or older, 50% bought a book last year. The average age of the most frequent book buyer is in the 50s. The average price paid for a book last year was $10.08. Unit sales (number of books sold) for the year to date are down 1.2%.
31% of all books purchased last year were impulse purchases, and 28% of purchases involved readers planning to buy a book, but not knowing what they wanted. Thus more than 50% of book buys are impulse purchases. 41% of people earning more than $100,000 a year buy comics and graphic novels. 41% of all books purchased are bought by people earning less than $35,000, and most people in the U.S. earn less than $35,000.
The average book reader now spends 15 hours a week online, more than for TV. Digital book sales grew 125% last year and represent 1.5% of the trade. Digital book purchases by those 64 and over rose 183% last year. Seniors are the largest users of Kindles. 48% of e-books are read on computers. Kindles have a 22% market share; the iPhone has 20% of the market. Last year for the first time online became the “No. 1 selling channel,” and accounted for 21% of sales.
Book clubs are still significant sales channels for reaching older readers.The fiction market is predominantly female. The one area of fiction in which men predominate is science fiction, where 55% of buyers are male.
If those stats are accurate, it looks like free arcs at events like BEA might become a thing of the past. Or worse—BEA might become passé as well.
Deborah LeBlanc is an award-winning author and business owner from Lafayette, Louisiana. She's also a licensed death scene investigator and an active member of two national paranormal investigation teams.
She is the president of the Horror Writers Association, president of the Writers' Guild of Acadiana, president of Mystery Writers of America's Southwest Chapter, and an active member of Sisters in Crime, Novelists Inc, and International Thriller Writers Inc. In 2004, she created the LeBlanc Literacy Challenge, an annual national campaign designed to encourage more people to read, and founded Literacy Inc. a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting illiteracy in America’s teens. She also takes her passion for literacy and a powerful ability to motivate to high schools around the country.
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Wow…
I think maybe being with an epublisher that also offers POD books through the major suppliers isn’t such a bad thing. Deep down, I still long to walk into a bookstore and see my title there on the shelf, but in this economy, I’ll take what I can get!
Romance novels and Harlequin seem to be bucking the overall trends in the publishing industry. That bodes well, I hope. Thanks for the eye-opening stats, Deborah!
by Silver James June 3rd, 2009 at 12:20 pmI found BEA to be enlightening and surprisingly good. Compared to the gloom and doom that was predicted the show did come off well. I live in the world of graphic novels and it was great to see a book like Stitches by David Small(WW Norton) get the same kind of buzz as the traditional ‘books’.
I thank you for the statistics because they underline a critical point the publishing industry is missing-they are marketing books in way that is simply bizarre. Hand selling is still the best tool and the only place to get that is with the indie booksellers. Instead, the pubs are focused on the big retailers.
What happens when the big boys have trouble? You lose that source.
On the other hand you have indie retailers who also need to adapt to the market place and learn to reach beyond their doors and remind consumers and fans what we enjoy most about the book buying process-its the social interaction.
Here’s another peeve: the indie retailers need to start marketing to kids. There is a distinct difference in marketing to parents and grandparents and marketing to kids. Kids will actually buy books, you have to carry the books they want. And you have to have a store that feels like some place they belong.
In the end, the publishers who had small booths and no ARCs saw the errors of their way…we can hope. Pay close attention to what happens with that book Stitches and you will see that the big houses will be throwing a lot of graphic novels into the mix this year.
Cheers!
John
by John Shableski June 3rd, 2009 at 12:54 pmOf all Americans 13 or older, 50% bought a book last year.
I don’t know how that compares to prior years, but it’s still just depressing. I know I just dropped a wad of cash at Borders and B&N. Between my daughter and I, I think we scored 12 new books (could be slightly more or less – depending on what she purchased). I can’t imagine not buying any for a whole year.
It still shocks me when people brag about not reading. Like that’s something to be proud of. Sheesh.
by B.E. Sanderson June 4th, 2009 at 5:51 am