Book publishing has a long history of low single-digit annual growth, and a new analysis appearing in consulting firm Bain & Company’s annual Media Consumption Survey found that only slightly more than 5% of U.S. consumers’ media time is spent with books and audiobooks. Yet that same analysis argues that books have a host of intangible assets that can be used to break that slow-growth cycle.
While the use of various digital technologies has drained away many readers, the survey found that 60% of U.S. consumers would like to read more books, and a similar percentage reported that they devote their full attention to reading when they open a book. In both instances, book reading was the only media activity that garnered such a favorable response from the majority of consumers.
The survey, conducted this May of nearly 5,100 adults, suggests that people are looking to try to break their obsession with digital media. Those findings are similar to what eventually occurred to slow the growth of e-book usage some 10 years ago when, complaining of digital fatigue, many readers opted for print books. With digital options now more plentiful than ever, the Bain report states, “In a screen-fatigued world, that ability to disconnect and focus is only going to matter more.”
The authors of the report suggest three steps the publishing industry can take to capitalize on what Bain says is a “real grassroots momentum right now” for getting off screens. Step one is for different parts of the industry to work together to develop ways to highlight the advantages of reading. The report acknowledges collaboration could be a distraction for companies operating in a low-margin business, but noted that “the whole industry has a better chance of thriving if leading voices work together.”
To draw more people into the reading habit, the report recommends the industry increase its community engagement and work more with social forums and reader communities to build a sense of connection around books. While Bain’s survey found that genre and author are the most important reasons consumers pick a book, having a title “recommended by family, friends, or community” is important for more than a third of readers.
As the continued interest in decorative covers and big crowds at certain author events illustrate, publishing has powerful fan bases, but the industry does not do enough to capitalize on that loyalty, the report argues. Publishers shouldn’t wait for studios to develop merch to tie-into TV shows or films based on book, but should get more active in offering readers their own themed items. “Fans like buying themed stuff, and they like it when book content stretches to new domains,” the report states. “But publishers have to offer it to them.”
The report also encourages publishing to use AI to operate more efficiently as a way to save money to pay the creative talent that will be necessary to differentiate books in the media landscape. The report, titled “A Uniquely Portable Magic: Why Book Publishing Has Hope,” stresses that consumers are not interested in reading books created by AI. More than 70% of those surveyed said they’re less interested in or wouldn’t read books generated in part or in whole by AI. Moreover, the report recommends publishers should label that their books feature “human-created stories.”
“The authorial voice from a flesh-and-blood writer,” the analysis found, “remains a differentiator and that’s something the onslaught of AI Kindle uploads doesn’t have—publishers’ years of honing creative instincts and cultivating talent pipelines matter even more in a flood of content.”