Publishing Stats/Graphs by Genre

[Jon]

During one of the panels at the ConstellationNE science fiction convention, Brandon mentioned that science fiction/fantasy accounts for only 6% of all books sold. He went on to relate that the real money makers for nearly all publishers are either 1) a romance novel or 2) a diet book.

No wonder I get frustrated when I walk into my library or bookstore. As with all things in my life, I'm isolated in the top two percentile. :)

I went searching for a graph or stats to back Brandon's remarks, but after a cursory perusal of Google results didn't find a satisfactory pie chart.

Any suggestions? or links?

Thanks, Jon

[William]

Google failed me as well. I did notice several pages stating that romance novels account for 55% of all paperbacks sold.

[Erin]

You will have a hard time finding statistics on this. I worked in a bookstore for a couple of years and its more like a 'trade secret' sort of thing. So management is privileged with the information and I can tell...at least for the last two years that Diet related books and romance does account for the top percentages of books sold. Fiction in general is always the highest selling in a book store and of the categories of fiction (Mystery, True Crime, Romance, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, etc) Fantasy fiction is usually third or fourth so 6% is pretty accurate!

[Janny]

Ah, the new Get Rich Quick Scheme - write the first ever Romance Diet book, read the steamy bits guaranteed to sweat off 50 pounds!

I have heard the statistic that 4 percent of the people buy 99 percent of the books.

[Jon]

Janny wrote: "Ah, the new Get Rich Quick Scheme - write the first ever Romance Diet book, read the steamy bits guaranteed to sweat off 50 pounds!

I have heard the statistic that 4 percent of the people buy 99 p..."

ROFL!

[Sandra]

Janny wrote: "Ah, the new Get Rich Quick Scheme - write the first ever Romance Diet book, read the steamy bits guaranteed to sweat off 50 pounds!

I have heard the statistic that 4 percent of the people buy 99 p..."

I'm in that 4%, lol.

[Janny]

Sandra wrote: "Janny wrote: "Ah, the new Get Rich Quick Scheme - write the first ever Romance Diet book, read the steamy bits guaranteed to sweat off 50 pounds!

I have heard the statistic that 4 percent of the..."

Sandra - yup, and based on your reading habits (I've noticed!) you are in the top thousandth of a percent when it comes to picking incredible books!

F&SF readers in general tend to be highly intelligent people who are looking for answers outside the envelope. That's cool.

[Sandra]

::blushing:: Aw thanks. I'm starting the Mistwraith series next. Looking forward to it.

[Jim]

Vlad, I've only gotten through the first article, but it is fantastic. Thanks.

[Jon]

Yes, that first article contained a plethora of stats.

[new_user]

It's not too hard to find if you already know the answer, LOL. Not only do romance sales comprise the largest market share, but romance novel sales kept the publishing industry afloat during the huge '08 slump. It was the only market increasing sales. Here's a report from Romance Writers of America. 13.5% of the market share. Here's another report from NYT.