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My first answer was going to be, "Books got cheaper." But in reading the list I think your choice of 1977 as the "edge" makes the break between "literary fiction" and "mass market genre fiction" seem sharper than it may actually be. Bestsellers prior to 1977 include Love Story, Portnoy's Complaint, Valley of the Dolls, etc.
Still, I'm comfortable with the idea that paperbacks became more affordable and readers had (a little) more discretionary reading time from the 1960s on.
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