One might think that book writing hopefuls are some sort of elite minority, or at least a
peculiar minority. Not true according to a survey by the Jenkins Group, because about 80% of Americans want to become an author.
Here are quite a few more interesting statistics collected by
Dan Poynter and presented by
Robyn Jackson, which are sure to dash any romantic notions about the book business:
* 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.
* A successful fiction book sells 5,000 copies.
* A successful nonfiction book sells 7,500 copies.
* On average, a bookstore browser spends 8 seconds looking at a book's front cover and 15 seconds looking at the back cover.
* Each day in the U.S., people spend 4 hours watching TV, 3 hours listening to the radio and 14 minutes reading magazines.