What is really going on in the book-buying world? To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know much about who was buying books and where they were buying them from. (How’s that for grammar? Don’t tell anyone that I write and edit for a living!) But as I started this foray into publishing, I figured it would behoove me to know who I was trying to sell the book to. (Uh oh, another dangling participle!)
Check out this survey by the American Booksellers Association.
Avid readers (those who read five or more hours per week) are generally older and female.- There are 62.4 million avid readers in the US. That’s a lot.
- Independent booksellers are the preferred retailers of avid readers.
- E-book readers are still buying paper copies. (So all those fears of paper books disappearing are likely over-blown.)
- Almost 7 percent of bookbuyers own e-book readers, and this number is going to grow.
- Most readers want to pay less than $10 for an ebook.
These facts helped me understand more about were I needed to concentrate my efforts so that I didn’t end up trying to get Charlotte Collins, a Continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, in the wrong bookstore or spend all my time marketing to people who would never buy it. Maybe it will help you too.