While there may be more options for authors to get published, there are also more options for consumers to spend their time and disposable income. Discoverability is a problem. The model of big books at the big 5 carrying the fiscal year is a problem. And so forth. Consumer behavior is what has changed the most.
True, as long as the consumer has the available time and the money to spend on options. And library books are free.
Even so, other things are different too. U.S. households have lightbulbs now, so consumers can easily read after work when it's dark out. Plus audiobooks exist for the large chunk of people who aren't literate or can't read/prefer to listen for other reasons.
Audiobooks see double digit growth as a category year over year. If we think about consumer behavior, one reason audiobooks do so well is because someone can do other things while listening to them.
Lightbulbs have nothing to do with consumers reading or not. Scrolling through TikTok mindlessly after a long day does. I can watch an entire movie via great clips from it on TikTok.
Something else to consider is that during the pandemic, book sales were great. There wasn’t anything else to do, really. Now, people want to be out. They’ll spend hundreds on a Beyoncé or Taylor Swift concert. Not books.
While there may be more options for authors to get published, there are also more options for consumers to spend their time and disposable income. Discoverability is a problem. The model of big books at the big 5 carrying the fiscal year is a problem. And so forth. Consumer behavior is what has changed the most.
True, as long as the consumer has the available time and the money to spend on options. And library books are free.
Even so, other things are different too. U.S. households have lightbulbs now, so consumers can easily read after work when it's dark out. Plus audiobooks exist for the large chunk of people who aren't literate or can't read/prefer to listen for other reasons.
Audiobooks see double digit growth as a category year over year. If we think about consumer behavior, one reason audiobooks do so well is because someone can do other things while listening to them.
Lightbulbs have nothing to do with consumers reading or not. Scrolling through TikTok mindlessly after a long day does. I can watch an entire movie via great clips from it on TikTok.
Something else to consider is that during the pandemic, book sales were great. There wasn’t anything else to do, really. Now, people want to be out. They’ll spend hundreds on a Beyoncé or Taylor Swift concert. Not books.