In the most recent data, I could find. From riveting romance novels to the latest political science theories, the U.S. book industry plays a massive role in education, entertainment, and more.
- The U.S. book industry made $25.93 billion in revenue in 2020
- Including self-published and commercially published, over 4 million new books were published in 2021.
- Children’s fiction is the most popular genre of books sold, achieving over 1 billion books sold in 2020.
- In the U.S. has approximately 1,700 independent bookselling companies are operating 4,100 stores.
- Total U.S. book sales hit 825.7 million units in 2021 across all print sales a 8.9% increase from 2020.
So, there are 330 million people in the US against 825.7M units. So, that is roughly 2.5 books read per person per year of 2021, if they are all read.
I reread old books and do not immediately read all new books. I am curious if these numbers included trade paperbacks of comic book reprints.
These numbers also don’t take into account used book sales. I buy a number of used books each year.
How many books do you buy a year? How many do you read? I never counted the books incoming (too frightening), but I read over 50 a year, not counting trades. I am also aware of challenges to have adults over 18 to read 100 books in their lifetime.