Book consumption in the U.S. 2011-2021, by format

Reading books remains a popular pastime for U.S. adults, with 75 percent of respondents to a 2021 survey saying that they had read a book in any format within the last year. Despite online media formats now being the preferred option for many consumers when it comes to television, music, and gaming, print books are by far the most popular format among readers in the United States. Whilst almost double the share of adults now read audiobooks compared to 2011, only 23 percent claimed to have read an audiobook in the last year compared to 65 percent who said that they had read a print book.

Book sales in the United States

In 2020, bookstore sales in the United States amounted to 8.84 billion U.S. dollars. Sales in 2019 and 2020 were the lowest recorded since the early 1990s, and the combined effect of the coronavirus outbreak, along with the growing appeal of online purchasing, will likely mean that bookstore sales will continue to drop. Bookstores tend to see most success in August, December, and January, and sales revenue often surpasses one billion U.S. dollars in those months each year. That said, monthly retail sales of bookstores in the U.S. are notably lower overall than in previous years and were particularly poor in spring 2020 as a result of national shutdowns to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Influence of COVID-19 on reading habits

The coronavirus pandemic led to increased media consumption in general, but not only among avid video and music streaming fans. Data from a survey in March 2020 revealed that 40 percent of Millennials read more books due to the COVID-19 outbreak, making consumers in this group the most likely to have done so compared to 33 percent of the total survey sample. Meanwhile, 61 percent of Boomers said that their reading habits had not changed. Book readership during the pandemic also varied by ethnicity. More Hispanic consumers had increased their time with books than respondents from any other ethnic group, with 36 percent reporting having read more books in March 2020 compared to 31 percent of African American respondents.