Friday, September 30, 2005

Australians Buy 80 Million Books

No, not each of us. Even if they were a cent each, that couldn't be done. Why did you even think that? What are you, crazy?

Here are the stats (skip 'em if you hate 'em) in more detail, and for even more detail than that, you can click on the link that I ripped it all from, down the bottom of the post.

Australians bought more than 80 million new books worth almost $1.5 billion in the 2003/04 financial year. 67 per cent were through 561 bookshops, department stores - 19 per cent, supermarkets and other businesses sold 8 per cent. 98 per cent were printed books. That probably makes the 2 per cent as eBooks.

What does this mean to me?

Aussies like reading. These are new books mind you, so that doesn't count second hand sales and borrowing. That means a lot of reading. If someone happens to like one of those borrowed books, chances are they'll buy the author's next book for themselves (or their librarian-friend).

Considering how much crime tv is on the telly, I'd say a sizeable proportion of those books are crime related, whether fiction or true crime.

I reckon there's a living to be made in amongst all that.

That's what I aim to do.

Data from "Australians buy 80 million books" - AAP

4 comments:

Daniel Hatadi said...

If you're using Internet Explorer, try setting your font size to Medium in View->Text Size.

That might help, if you can read this. :)

Mary said...

LOL, yeah...I reckon you're onto something there. Love the way you write!

Margaret said...

I put my hand up to owning a sizable chunk of that 80 mill. And the majority of my books. Hmmm. Crime. Pathology. Forensic. Crime. Baby books. (which is the odd one out?)

Can't wait to add another book to my collection :)

Daniel Hatadi said...

M: Can't wait to add another book to your collection too!