Books in the United States

Have you ever wondered how Dan Brown can have a runaway bestseller? Here’s how:

  • 1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
  • Only 58 percent of college graduates will ever read another book after college.
    • 53 percent read fiction
      • A successful fiction book sells 5,000 copies.
      • The favorite fiction category is mystery and suspence, at 19 percent.
      • 55 percent of fiction is bought by women, 45 percent by men.
    • 43 percent read nonfiction
      • A successful nonfiction book sells 7,500 copies.
  • 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
  • 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
  • 57 percent of new books are not read to completion.
  • About 120,000 books are published each year in the U.S.
    • 70 percent of which do not earn back their advance.
    • 70 percent of which do not make a profit.

[From statistics compiled by Publishers Weekly, Book Wire and The Jenkins Group.]

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Published:
2.10.07 / 10am
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Pondering
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