Quote:
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According to R. R. Bowker’s Pubtrack 2008 Consumer Book Survey, book purchasing is becoming more concentrated among avid book buyers, defined as those who purchase a minimum of 12 books per year.
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I find this interesting, mainly because the threshold for "avid" seems to me to be so low. I would have thought the minimum number of books purchased in a year would have to be 25 or even higher.
Of course, I can only judge by my own experience, and I admit that my book-buying habits are atypical. Two days ago I bought 6 pbooks at B&N (4 for me in hardcover and 2 paperbacks for my wife), and 6 days before that I bought 7 books at Fictionwise for myself. That's just what I bought in the past 2 weeks. I have bought more than 50 ebooks at Fictionwise and Smashwords since January, and more than 25 hardcovers from B&N (plus probably a dozen paperbacks for my wife) and have 9 hardcovers preordered (to which I will add a few books once I get through this weeks'
New York Review of Books 
).
So it seems to me that 12 is a low number.
I do, however, fit the demographics (Baby Boomer generation closing in on retirement).
The statistic also makes me wonder whether it is a statistic for pbooks only. I've noticed in my own buying habits that since receiving my Sony 505, my book purchasing has increased. Without exception, I would have bought none of the ebooks I have as pbooks and my hardcover pbook purchasing has not declined since receiving the Sony. Has anyone else noted a similar buying pattern?