Tired of hearing about the death of the book?
Yeah, me too. So I did a little digging and found a few things we can ALL be happy about. It turns out that more and more people are reading, and book sales are actually doing fine, thank you very much.
So, rejoice with me and read these 6 select great news from the world of books.
1.The fastest selling adult book of all time came out this year.
Yes. The Girl on the Train is the fastest selling adult book of all time, ever as far as I can tell. It came out this year and has already outsold (in terms of speed) Fifty Shadesand Harry Potter.
2. More people are reading more books!
More people now claim to read more than 21 books in a year than ever before. This has never been higher. (Though it has to be said that more people also claim to read no books than before.)
*Source: Statista
3. Book publishers are making plenty of money!
The net revenue of the US book publishing industry is staying level, with yearly revenue at around 27 billion dollars every year. No sign of failing book sales there.
*Source: Statista
4. We are getting more bookstores!
The trend of bookstores closing has stopped and now there are more bookstores opening than closing each year, a trend that has been ongoing for the last four years. Waterstones, Britain’s largest bookstore chain, plans to open a dozen new bookstores this year.
Here in the States, the number of independent bookstores increased by 27% between 2009 and 2014 and sales at independent bookstores have grown 8 percent a year over the past three years, which exceeds the growth of book sales in general. Yay, books!
Sources: Waterstones opens new store in London The Independent
Waterstones set to open more stores across the U.K. Business Reporter
Assessing the Health of Independent Bookstores The New York Times
5. Your favorite travel accessory? Books!
In a recent Tripadvisor survey, 77% of travelers said that “Reading material” was the most important carry-on item, more than anything else. Only 52% said that and iPad or other tablet was their most important carry-on item.
When people travel, they want books.
6. eBook sales continue to rise every year
This just means more people are reading, not, as it is often depicted, that the book is dying. Print and audiobooks are falling in that graph, yes. People are changing how they read, is all.
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