The
book industry reports print book sales are on the rise for the fourth
consecutive year, but the increase barely kept up with the rate of population
growth. Will we ever see a year where
print book sales cross the billion-book mark?
In
2017, according to outlets (online and bricks) that use NPD Book Scan, (believed
to account for 80-85% of all sales), the number of print books sold rose 1.9%
above 2016 totals. This means that 687.2
million total print units were sold – or only an average of two per every man,
woman and child.
Mass
market paperbacks continue to be in decline but trade paperbacks and hardcover
books are up steadily over the past few years.
But the biggest gain, percentagewise, comes from board books. They are up by 33% from 2014.
That’s
great news, because board books go to the newest, youngest readers. If these kids, can get hooked on physical books
and gain entry to literacy early on, there is hope for the book industry.
But
I had to wonder, what would it take to increase print book sales by 50% - which
would only come out to Americans buying three books for the year.
Sure
there are competing formats for books, including streaming audiobooks and
e-books. There are also competing forms of entertainment and information
providers, including plays, movies, television, music, pro sports, video games
– and free things like net surfing, social media, blogs, and webinars.
There
was not one book that sold at least a million print copies in the United States
in 2017. This means no book was
purchased by more than a third of one percent of the 321 million
Americans. That’s nuts.
Millions
of people will follow Kim Kardashian’s fat ass on television and tens of
millions more will follow her on Instagram but far fewer are cracking open a
book. What this tells us is that
Americans don’t read a lot of books and of the books they read, there’s a lack
of consensus as to what should be bought and read.
We now must redefine what makes for a popular book. Heck a “bestseller” can be a book that sold 50 copies in an hour on Amazon, or, according to Publishers Weekly, a book that sold only a couple of thousand copies in a week via reporting stores. What happened to the blockbuster book?
We now must redefine what makes for a popular book. Heck a “bestseller” can be a book that sold 50 copies in an hour on Amazon, or, according to Publishers Weekly, a book that sold only a couple of thousand copies in a week via reporting stores. What happened to the blockbuster book?
Even
the scathing Trump presidency tear-down book, Fire and Fury, for all of the
press it is receiving, had only sold 30,000 copies the first three days. For all of the ink it received – and for the
significance of its contents – shouldn’t it hit sales of a million soon?
We
are a distracted society, one that doesn’t always prioritize books over other
sources of content. We are also a nation
on a budget. If one can get free content
or cheap information, he or she may choose that over a new book. The less expensive e-book, libraries, and
easier access to trading books online all challenge print book sales.
But
competition and cost aside, can’t we do better than this? Can’t we find a way to inspire people to buy
and read print books?
It
starts with parents and how they raise their kids. I failed to transfer my love of baseball and
watching professional sports to my children, but I have made sure to instill
the love of paper books into their inquiring minds. They join me on trips to bookstores and we encourage
them to go to the library, but it’s not easy.
They spend far more time on a device than a book.
At ages 10 and 13 they have minds of their own, growing up in a digitally distracting era.
At ages 10 and 13 they have minds of their own, growing up in a digitally distracting era.
At the current rate of annual growth of about 13 million print units, it would take several more decades to hit the one billion print book mark. I hope educators, parents, and community leaders find a way to encourage people to buy and read more print books.
Our culture needs this more than it realizes.
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Brian Feinblum’s insightful views, provocative opinions,
and interesting ideas expressed in this terrific blog are his alone and not
that of his employer or anyone else. You can – and should -- follow him on
Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels
much more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by
BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2018. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in
Westchester. His writings are often featured in The Writer and
IBPA’s Independent. This was named one of the best book
marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and
recognized by Feedspot in 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs.
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