Which Books Increased in Sales? What Genres?

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief for Southern Writers Magazine

Great news for authors. Printed books are up! This is according to Nielsen Company. You may not be familiar with them but they know what consumers watch and buy by studying consumers in more than 100 countries. “Viewing trends and habits worldwide.”  They reported, “Sales of traditional books increased almost 3% while sales of e-books dipped. This means e-books’ share of the total market slipped from 27% in 2014 to 24% in 2015.

Here is what they reported on genres. They said, “Certain genres maintained a larger share in the digital realm than others, including Romance and Thrillers. Trending was non-fiction. It was the highlight of 2015 with 12% growth in children’s and 7% in adult.”

Some writers I know are glad to hear the news that print books are up. While it is nice to download a book immediately and read, there is just something special about holding the printed book in your hands. Does that sound old fashion? Maybe…but holding a book has a special feeling. Perhaps it transports our memories back in time.

 As a child, we only had printed books. Living in a small town, I could walk to the Library. For kids who loved to read the library was a big deal. During the summer, I would walk the two and half blocks to the library, check out five books on Monday morning. By Friday, I had finished the five books. Each Monday I would return to the library and repeat checking out five. Many summers I read more than most of the kids in my class. But I do remember a couple of kids who would read more sometimes. The beginning of each school year the teacher would compare how many each kid read and the winners always got a treat.

However, it truly wasn’t a race for me. I loved reading; being taken to other worlds and meeting new characters. I knew even as a kid by reading the books I was visiting places I had never been and might never go.  I still love reading. I love being transported into other worlds by authors and meeting their characters and learning their stories.

Writers give readers a special gift if only for a while, they transport the reader out of their world into another time and place meeting different people.

Remember, when you are writing you are opening doors for your readers.