Book Buyer Demographics From Bowker

In 2009:

• More than 40% of Americans over the age of 13 purchased a book in 2009 and the average age of the American book buyer is 42.
• Women lead men in overall purchases, contributing 64% of sales. Even among detective and thriller genres, women top 60% of the sales. Where do men catch up? Fantasy titles are purchased evenly by men and women.
• Baby Boomers spend. The boomer generation is the largest purchasing generation, making up 30% of sales. Their elders – Matures – contribute 16%.
• More income doesn’t mean more book purchases. 32% of the books purchased in 2009 were from households earning less than $35,000 annual and 20% of those sales were for children’s books.
• Americans like people. The biggest selling non-fiction genre is biography – auto and otherwise.

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