I’d like to say thanks to Kay, who let me know of this! Thank you!
The following statistics about book publishing and reading were found on www.parapub.com,the Web site of self-publishing guru Dan Poynter. They'll give you an idea of what you're up againstif you want to write books for a living.
1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
57 percent of new books are not read to completion.
70 percent of books published do not earn back their advance.
70 percent of the books published do not make a profit.
(Source: Jerold Jenkins, www.JenkinsGroupInc.com)
53 percent read fiction, 43 percent read nonfiction. The favorite fiction category
is mystery and suspence, at 19 percent.
55 percent of fiction is bought by women, 45 percent by men.
(Source: Publishers Weekly)
About 120,000 books are published each year in the U.S.
(Source: www.bookwire.com)
A successful fiction book sells 5,000 copies.
A successful nonfiction book sells 7,500 copies.
(Source: Authors Guild, www.authorsguild.org)
On average, a bookstore browser spends 8 seconds looking at a book’s front cover and
15 seconds looking at the back cover.
(Source: Para Publishing, www.parapub.com)
Each day in the U.S., people spend 4 hours watching TV, 3 hours listening to the
radio and 14 minutes reading magazines.
(Source: Veronis, Suhler & Associates investment banker)
by Karyl Ollila
20 Feb 2010 at 01:09
Be sure not to limit yourself. Lots of authors limit themselves to what they think they can do. Keep in mind that you can go as far as your mind will let you.