The latest bestselling book charts confirm what we already knew: that readers are still crazy about their fiction novels.
In fact, according to Publishers’ Weekly, fiction dominated the Nielson BookScan, Amazon Kindle and Amazon Print top 20 lists in July, indicating that ravenous bookworms are happy to devour these fanciful works whether they’re served up in hard-copy form or an electronic format. In fact, between 2007 and 20011, novels skyrocketed from 67 percent of titles sold to 78 percent.
Driving fiction book sales in recent years were blockbusters such as the Harry Potter book series and more recently The Hunger Games and Fifty Shades of Grey and their sequels. Both of the latter two series topped all three of the bestselling lists in July.
So, why the jump in an already dominating book genre? Well, first, do you notice a common thread among the biggest sellers? Escapism! People have always enjoyed being swept up in a torrid tale that takes them into an adventure as far from reality as they can get. It doesn’t hurt that movie versions of these tomes are piquing readers’ interest in the books.
According to a January 2012 article on USATODAY.com, a fall sales of non-fiction books in recent years has also paved the way for the novel’s resurgence. It seems there’s a perception among some readers that an Internet search can turn up just as much info as, say, a history or self-help book. We’d beg to differ, but in the realm of book sales, perception is reality.
Oh, and there’s one more nugget from recent research on book-buying trends we find encouraging: Buyers are snapping up more self-published books!
Are you self publishing a book and looking to receive
marketing support and services like this?
And long may the trend continue! Anything that helps break down traditional barriers to getting published has to be a good thing.