A few weeks ago I was flicking through some of the old articles on the blog, when I came across the recap I wrote after attending last year’s Newcastle Writing Conference.
One of the points that jumped out at me came from a discussion on the state of the publishing industry, involving several agents, marketing people and a buyer from Waterstones book chain. When talking about the average reader’s book buying habits, the executive from Waterstones revealed how many books you have to buy in a year to be classed as a ‘heavy reader.’
How many do you think? 10? 20? 50 or more?
It was more than six.
That’s right, according to one of the largest book sellers in the country, to be a ‘heavy reader’ you only need to buy half a dozen books or so a year.
Of course, just because you’re only buying six books a year, doesn’t mean that is all you’re reading. Most dedicated book lovers get their fix wherever they can: they frequent the local library, pick up tattered paperbacks from charity shops, borrow from friends or download onto their e-reader. If you’re lucky enough to be part of an advance review programme or to run a book blog, then you might even get a regular supply of books for free from the publishers.
But ultimately, six books a year says something about the way society regards reading. Too many people associate it with school rather than something that can be fun and entertaining. They don’t understand the impulse to curl up with a novel, when you could be watching TV or playing on the computer.
It makes me sad to think half a dozen books a year is enough to make you a hard core bookworm, not only in the eyes of Waterstones, but probably also to those who rarely, if ever, read at all.
Thanks to the internet and modern media, we don’t have to work for our entertainment. We’re always surrounded by opportunities for a quick fix. And those things can provide a release at the end of a long day at work, whereas reading requires you to engage and process on a deeper level, leaving you to conjure up the images in your own mind rather than having them already packaged in front of you, ready for consumption.
Six books a year could mean a lot of things. I know that a lot of people only read on holiday. They grab a few paperbacks in the airport to enjoy on the beach, or they flick through the obligatory celebrity biographies they were gifted at Christmas. Perhaps they pick up the latest popular fiction along with their supermarket shop.
But maybe Waterstones are right, from their own perspective at least. I’ve read over 50 novels so far this year, but not very many of them have come from that particular shop. In fact, most of them have either been proof copies, which I’ve received for free, or downloaded via the Kindle app. So whilst I’m technically, what, a super max reader(!), I’m not actually contributing as heavily to the publishing industry in a financial sense, unlike those Waterstones shoppers who are probably paying full price for their new releases – maybe even in hardback.
So what does it really mean to be a heavy reader? Is it about the books we purchase, the ones we engage with or simply sheer volume?
And should these categorisations be about the readers themselves, or their interactions with a particular store?
All I know is, there are so many books out there that I’m desperate to read, I can’t imagine only choosing six a year.
rusty {rambles} says
I can’t believe that number is so low! True, there are a lot of qualifications to that statement. Still, I’d imagine it’s a depressingly realistic picture. I wouldn’t class myself as a heavy reader. I’ve only read 17 books this year, but I’ve probably bought double that! My wishlist is always longer than the time I carve out for it.
Amy Lord says
I was surprised too! It would be interesting to see a few more of the figures and get a better picture of people’s book buying habits. I’m not sure what I’d class as a heavy reader to be honest, but I do think it can be about more than numbers. If you tend to read challenging books, you might be a heavy reader in a different way.
Jade @ Bits & Bobs says
This was a really interesting post – I was also shocked when you revealed 6 books being a heavy reader. I know I’ve purchased at least double that so far this year, perhaps even triple, and none of which were from Waterstones. I’m sure this number would change depending on the bookseller.
What I do know is that when I share the amount of books I read a year, in a year it’s typically 50 or so, and that surprises people who aren’t ‘bookworms’ whereas to me, a bookworm, I think of this as a small number of books. It all depends on the person and their perspective really, especially seen as everyone’s reading habits very greatly!
🙂
Amy Lord says
Very true, there’s such a gulf between people who read voraciously and those that only read a little or not at all, and who’s to say what is an ‘average’ or ‘heavy’ reader is? Like you say, it’s all about perspective! 🙂
Katie says
Wow, I’m quite shocked actually that 6 books is considered a lot! I’ve bought quite a lot of books this year, though I’ve also received quite a few for review purposes! Reading-wise, I’m almost at 60. It’s strange to think that people don’t always have a book on the go.
Amy Lord says
I know, everyone is different of course, but I can’t imagine not reading on a regular basis.
Sara says
Six books!?!? That’s seriously blows my mind! People definitely need to be reading more.
Amy Lord says
It’s a crazy stat, but it’s quite revealing too!
Asti @ Oh, the Books! says
I’m actually not surprised at all that six books are all it takes for someone to be considered a heavy reader. I know that before I started blogging and reading seriously, I literally only used to buy books twice a year – for my birthday and for Christmas. Not necessarily because I didn’t want to buy books more often, but because those were the only times of the years that I had extra money to spend on such pleasures. I would get money for the holidays, run out and buy three or four books, and that was it.
I do think though that it’s probably obviously different now, because like you said there’s e-readers to consider. Plus there’s people like my mom who are heavy readers and read TONS of books every year, but literally never buy a single book and just utilize the library instead.
I’m not sure how we should define a heavy reader, or if we should define it at all. For me, the bigger issue is the fact that so many people choose to not read at all. I’m okay with those “heavy readers” who only read seven books a year, and I’ll forgive those random readers who only read one book a year. But those readers who never give books a chance? Who avoided books as soon as they left school? I feel sad for those people. I want everyone to read at least one book a year. If we can achieve that, then I’ll go back and force them to read more 😉
Amy Lord says
Great comment Asti, I agree with you – it makes me sad when people don’t read, especially when I know how much someone would enjoy a certain book if they just gave it a chance.
It would also be interesting to have some statistics on library users to compare to this, as I imagine there plenty of people who use libraries a lot, taking out dozens of books a year, but I bet they are a fairly small group in comparison to those that don’t use the library at all.