Want to know who’s buying books these days? Well, consumer marketing firm Bowker has just released its 2009 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics and Buying Behaviors Annual Report --and it’s pretty interesting. Here’s their summary:
- More than 40% of Americans over the age of 13 purchased a book in 2009 and the average age of the American book buyer is 42.
- Women lead men in overall purchases, contributing 64% of sales. Even among detective and thriller genres, women top 60% of the sales. Where do men catch up? Fantasy titles are purchased evenly by men and women.
- Baby Boomers spend. The boomer generation is the largest purchasing generation, making up 30% of sales. Their elders contribute 16%.
- More income doesn’t mean more book purchases. 32% of the books purchased in 2009 were from households earning less than $35,000 annually, and 20% of those sales were for children’s books.
- Americans like people. The biggest selling nonfiction genre is biography.
So, Shelf Lifers, where do you fit in all this? How many books do you buy a year on average? What’s the last book you bought?
I get about 80% of my reading through the library. But I do buy books also. I buy about 15 books a year, I’d guess.I buy the new Janet Evanovich every year. I just bought all the Night Huntress books from Jeanine Frost. I also bought The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire. Along with 3 or 4 cook books. All within the last 3 months. I’m a book work. Love to read.
I also get many of my books from the library, especially hardcovers, as they are so expensive. I just recently bought the paperback version of Jonathan Lethem’s “Chronic City.” I’ve just barely gotten into it, so I can’t give a review yet.
Call of the Wild/White Fang
I just bought that duo this summer and LOVED them. I had never read Jack London (for shame, I know) and was knocked out by his style. I particularly loved the way he got inside a dog’s psyche. Amazing stuff.
The biggest chunk of my spending money is spent on books – and not the digital kind, but real hold-in-your-hands books. I’d say I buy at least 100 books in a year, mainly paperbacks. The last purchase was “The Darkest Hour” by Maya Banks.
I spend most of my money on books as well so I’m buying at least 100 books a year as well. I don’t know if I could ever go digital. I love the smell of books and bookstores. The last book I picked up was “Street Gang” by Michael Davis. It’s the complete history of Sesame Street
I am the same way. I don’t do digital either. I love the book store, and the library. Something about thousands of books on shelves. Makes me happy.
I try not to think about how many books I buy a year. Adding in what I pick up at garage sales and used books stores – its easily 200 to 300. I tend to buy 3 or 4 at a time because I can’t seem to stop.
I use to spend $1,000+ a year on books, so I got a Nook and I spend about $400. I am like the exception though to all the data (I’m 25 and a male).
I’m currently reading “Freedom” by Jonathan Franzen and loving it!
I’d say a book a year. My last fiction was “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” (which is almost a decade old). My last nonfiction was “The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives”.
The last book I bought but failed to read: “Atlas Shrugged”. Felt like a summer homework assignment.
I read every word of “Atlas Shrugged” a few years ago. I have OCD when it comes to books. I can’t bring myself to skim. I wish I could have skimmed this one. It’s very self-indulgent. An editor could have chopped the text in half — at least — without losing anything important.
I usually go for fiction but I have bought some non-fiction books, mostly biographies. I don’t really go for a specific genre for fiction though. I mostly buy what I want to read or buy a book that got a decent grade in your EW reviews. And I also buy real books and not E-books.
The Passage. Don’t get it. Falls apart half-way thru.
I disagree. I thought *The Passage* was really visionary and well-plotted all the way through. It’s one of the most exciting novels I’ve read this year.
Loved ‘The Passage’, one of the best books of the last 10 years. I couldn’t put it down.
The Last book I bought was “Collusion” by Stewart Neville. It is the follow up to his excellent first novel, “The Ghosts of Belfast.” I buy quite a lot of books. I keep the ones I really like and might read again, and then pass on the rest.
I work in a bookstore and so I buy TONS of books…but I think the last one I bought was Bright Star, the love letters between Fanny Brown and John Keats.
I don’t see why a person would spend up to $150 on a device to buy books for when you could just buy the book. You’d be saving yourself A LOT of money.
I have no idea how many books I buy per year, probably at least 30. The last book I bought was Faithful by Janet S. Fox.
I’m half the age of the average book buyer, but I LOVE buying books.
Last book I bought: Freedom, Jonathan Franzen. Bought it the day it hit shelves (which I probably haven’t done since the last Harry Potter).
I buy probably between 20 and 30 books a year (mainly fiction and textbooks) and take out about three times as many from the library. These include gift books for my family. The last book I bought was “The Cardboard Universe: A Guide to the World of Phoebus K. Dank,” a novel-spoof of Philip K. Dick. For fiction, I buy books that are not available at the local library or easily obtainable through interlibrary loan. The library is a wonderful resource — just saying.
1. 7 keys and sadly none of them are the key to someone’s heart2. Just 1 dimaon name because I am that concise and efficient like a moped. A really, really cool moped.3. 6 or 7 (all of which have been in the past 3 months) and I would say either Searching for God Knows What or Irresistible Revolution4. I was wait, there wasn’t a fourth question was there?
Since I bought my Kindle I’ve bought a lot more books. The lastest, “An Abundance of Katherines” by John Green.
i love books, and probably average 30-35 per year in purchases. I have favorite authors that I but as soon as they put anything new out–Jonathan Kellerman, Nora Roberts, Jennifer Crusie, Marcia Muller. Am eagerly awaiting Jean M Auel’s final installment of her “Clan of the Cave Bear” series, which will be out March of next year. I love libraries and bookstores, and no matter how advanced technology gets, nothing will ever replace the sensory stimulation I get from those places.
Cass you just made me a very happy person. I had no idea Auel was writing another book. I can still remember the first time I read Clan of the Cave Bear.
I just bought 12 books from betterworldbooks.com… they were having an awesome Labor Day sale… I honestly can’t remember what all of them are at the moment, but I do know they are all on my “Books to Read” list, which is now 3 pages (front & back) long… I can’t do the digital device thing b/c I like to hold my books, and turn the pages myself, but I do find the Nook & Kindle intriguing…